Death through my eyes
by CloverField123
Summary: Death took him from his world and left him stranded in a new universe. Born in a world at war that sends young children to their deaths. From a clan that does not want him. How does Hiroaki survive when the world its self seems determined to make him suffer? OC, Self-insert.
1. Ch1 The Beginning

**Prologue**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I only own the OC that I came up with.**

 **A/N: Hello, this is a work in progress. This is my first story. I know there will be many mistakes and issues. If you find any please comment and let me know. For this this story I found inspiration from another story on here a few months back. I would link the story here but I have not re-found the story. I have had this written out for a few months and I have only now gotten to really do anything with this. English isn't my first language, so I apologize for any grammatical errors you may find in this rendition of the story. Feel free too let me know what you like and dislike and any constructive criticism you may have.**

Death comes for everyone. The one thing that every living creature under this blue sky has in common. The fear of death has driven mankind to unparalleled heights. Pushed fellow man to do amazing things.

Not me. I was a coward in the face of death. Death stares at me in the face. I didn't fight back. All I did was stare back too scared to even breath. _**Bang!**_ I was fated to death before I even saw the flash of the gun. Before I even heard the gun my life was sealed to death.

Laying on the floor with a hole in my chest all I could think about was if I had taken out the trash. It was funny truly it was. In my last moments of life I wasn't thinking about my wife or my family. No I was thinking about the trash. I was thinking about how I had just given my wife more work to do that day.

It had been a sunny day. Regular enough, nothing out of order to make me believe that it would be my last. I had gotten up early hugged my wife goodbye and walked out the door heading for my car. It was the usual routine, open the car door, throw in my lunch bag , get in start the car.

I had made my way to pick up my usual morning coffee from My local café before I headed into work. Who would have known that my favorite drinking place would have been robbed that day?

With the light fading out, I saw the people rushing above me trying to save me. Out of all of the shadows only one stood out. A creature that I could only make out it's eyes. His cursed yellow eyes with black pupils.

He reached out and grabbed me. Pulling me off of the floor. Nobody reacted to what the man was doing. It hit me then that they couldn't see me or the man. I looked down in horror when I realized I was being pulled out of my own body.

"Do not worry child, I'm here to guide you into the next life" it snickered out in a deep voice.

"Who are you?" I managed to croak out.

Looking intently into his eyes, I started to take the man in as a whole. It had purple skin, long wild white hair that covered most of its head. It had a blade bite down in between his large sharp teeth. It wore what looked to be a large white robe that hanged off the creature.

"I'm your savior. Your second chance. I'm your God. I am the Shinigami"

Everything around me seemed to explode into a fiery hell. I was surrounded by a wall of flames that touched the darkening sky. With a twisted smile the Shinigami plunged it's blade into my heart. The fire seemed to seep into me through his sword.

Feeling the fire as it ravaged its way through my body, I screamed a soundless cry. All I heard was the twisted laugh of the entity in front of me. It found pleasure in my unfathomable pain.

"This is only the beginning of your pain, only the beginning. It must be done in order for your body and soul to be adapted into this world."

Those words were the last thing I heard before I was plunged into the darkness.

I had awoken to the startling cries of a baby. I tried looking around me but all I felt was the pain radiating all over my unresponsive body. It was then that I realized I was the one who was crying. My realization feed into my cries when I fell into a despair.

It was then that I was being lifted up by a strange woman in white. I was being handed to a woman laying in bed. Her long black hair covering half of her face. She had a soothing smile. A radiating warmth.

I felt myself calming down. I felt intrigued by the women in front of me. But it was her eyes that turned my intrigue to pure curiously. This woman had pearl white eyes and no pupils. As I was delivered into her warm arms I gave into the warmth and fell asleep.

For the next 6 months it felt like a drowsy stupor. Fading into sleep and eating. Everything was a blur. I found myself weak. I couldn't do the most basic tasks.

After those first few months I found myself able to look at the world around me. There were many people constantly coming and going checking in on me and and what I figured was my mother. It took me almost 5 months to realize that my name was Hiroaki. I still couldn't understand most of what the people around me said but I was getting better at deciphering what the were saying to me.

It had been almost 10 months after I was reborn before I could begin to move around by myself. On my first expedition out of my nursery I found myself face to face with a tall man. With Long black hair. He kneeled down looking into my eyes with his pupiless eyes.

It hit me like a truck. I was facing Hiashi Hyūga. THE Hiashi Hyūga from one of my favorite shows that I grew up with as a child. In my horror, I had fainted before I had a chance to process what had happened.

I had awoken mentally cursing the Shinigami. He had doomed me into a life of servitude and death at the hands of what people might call gods in my own world. He had spoken of a second chance. A new life where I might be able to live a peaceful life. Instead he had thrown me into a world in cycle of constant war and peace. A world where only the strong survived.

Needless to say my mother had not left my side since I had fainted. She looked sick with worry. Cradling me in her arms as I cried for days at my misfortune. After the 5th day I stopped crying. I had barely noticed my mother did not have the seal across her head!

Relief washed over me in seconds. I was getting my hopes up once again. I might not be forced into a life of servitude to the Main Branch of the family. As soon as my stubby legs could take me I made my way to a mirror. Lo and behold there was no seal on me either!

I laughed in pure excitement! The possibilities were endless! I wasn't tied down into slavery I could do what I wanted! I was only tied down by my own willpower, to my own desires. Only my strength could hold me back.

In my previous life, I lived an underwhelming life. For all of my potential, I was forced to squander away my youth helping my family by working odd jobs here and there. I was always held down by responsibilities to help get the family by.

I was truly blessed in this life. I wouldn't have to work to prove my existence to the world. Everyday wouldn't be a struggle just to survive.

I would have time to figure out what I wanted, I would get to truly live.

 **Time Skip: 1 year**

 **Beginning of 3rd Shinobi War**

 **Kakashi:10 Chunin**

 **Obito-Rin:10 Genin**

 **Itachi:3-4?**

 **Author's Note: The war has not yet reached the point where Obito dies. Countries are beginning to prepare for war. This is more for Reference sake. The timeline Is really fucked up and trying to decipher it accurately without plot holes is near impossible. Kakashi is supposed to be 10 years older than Itachi. He was 12 when Obito died and Itachi would have been 2 . When The Kyuubi attacks Kakashi is 14 making Itachi 4-5. The Wikia states that the war traumatized Itachi into his goals for peace. Except he would have been too young. So by making Itachi 2 years older it gives him a bigger time frame to be in the war. So when Naruto graduates Kakashi will be 26-27 and Itachi would be 17-19. Hiroaki would end up being 15-17.**

* * *

"For god sakes, He's only just turned two! Please he's not old enough to begin any training! Hiashi-kun please!"

"Enough Haru-chan! There's war going on. We can't risk there being any weak links in the Hyūga! They cannot get a hold of one of us.. Not again. Hiroaki will grow up in an age of war. We need to get him stronger..The Third Shinobi War won't stop to let him grow up with a normal childhood."

I turned and looked at my mother. With deep sorrow in her eyes she turned away. Hiashi grabbed my hand and escorted me to the training ground. As we walked the other Hyūga looked down upon me. With pity in their eyes they continued on their way.

* * *

 **Time Skip: 2 years**

 **Hiroaki: 4 years**

* * *

In those two years, my mother in this world had been sent on to the front lines. She hadn't made it back. Her team was ambushed escorting supplies back into an outpost near the Land of Fires border.

After that day I was left orphaned. Hiashi took it upon himself to take me into his family. As soon as I turned three years old he began to instruct me in our clans katas and stances. I'm not going to lie when I say I was a huge disappointment.

Compared to the likes of Itachi Uchiha I was a failure. Hiashi had not sent me to the academy. He wanted my growth to be as fast as possible. Stating that the academy would only slow me down.

As driven as I was I simply could not perform the katas as he wanted me too. In my previous life I was not much of a fighter. To be exact I had been in zero fights. I had always found my way out. I had an athletic build, I just didn't have the proper flow to my movements.

"Run them again. This time I want you to go as fast as possible."

I went through the stances for the hundredth time that day. Half way through I messed up the follow through and tumbled to the floor.

" *Sigh* Do you even know the stances Hiro-kun? Your speed is impressive for your age but you mix up your stances with others and your strikes don't have nearly enough force behind them."

"I know them Hiashi-sama, it's just… I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.." I looked away feeling dejected that I still couldn't get the stances done properly after three long years of training.

"It's fine Hiro-kun, your training has been coming along nicely. You are ahead of everyone else in your Chakra lessons and no one rivals you with shurikenjutsu. You just have to learn how to apply all of your knowledge in the real world. Now go on, practice is over you can return to your studies."

I promptly took off running back to the Clans Library to continue on my Chakra theory. It had become by far my favorite subject to learn about. The way it felt using was exhilarating. It was like taking a Monster and a Red bull at the same time.

Whenever my body began to feel tired I just pulled chakra into my muscles and I felt better than new. I could run for much longer than I could in my previous life. When I first began to use it, it felt like nothing I had known before. Imagine the feeling of a warm liquid running along side your blood. Constantly running through your body.

" _This must be why Naruto was always so energetic! If I feel so antsy and full of energy when my chakra reserves are high I could not even imagine what Naruto feels when he has an entire ocean of Chakra compared to my small puddle. I don't blame the kid for not being able to sit down and learn anything. I have to go through my morning exercise and Juuken practice before I can settle down to learn any book material."_

Among the Hyūga I was an outcast. All main branch members avoided me except for Hiashi-sama and his wife. Even the branch house members had apparently refused to serve me. None of the instructors wanted to teach me either. It had plagued my thoughts when I had first begun to notice their behavior. It was the reason why Hiashi had to personally train me.

I had always thought it was because I was orphaned. I thought that they avoided me because I was a bad omen. I had even begun to think that they had found out that I wasn't meant to be in this world. Even the young Hyūga children had been instructed to only talk to me if it was required of them.

The only friend I had my age was a young Raven haired boy. I would often have to sneak out of the compound to meet him in the forest. We had always come to the same small clearing to do some training. He would help me fix my accuracy with kunai and shuriken. In exchange I would try and help him with chakra control.

It hadn't taken long for me to become introverted. I kept to myself because it was easier then having to deal with people who clearly didn't want me to be their. I had to teach myself everything. There was only so much time Hiashi had.

It also didn't help that I had not unlocked my Byakugan yet. Even most of the other kids our age could use theirs. That was the reason I was not very good with the Juuken. Even though my eyes were much sharper than they were in my last life it was not enough. I couldn't fix every small minuet detail that I was doing wrong.

While I had more than enough speed and power to execute the Jūken, I lacked the flow and grace that made the style work well. That's the reason I had decided to focus solely on Ninjutsu. I know how that sounds. A Hyūga abandoning Taijutsu and focusing on Ninjutsu?!

It made sense to me to learn as many useful jutsu as I could until I successfully awakened my Byakugan. Why should I waste my efforts on something I wouldn't be able to use correctly until I had my eyes? It made more sense to focus on things I could improve more than bog myself down. That's why I was so eager to get to the library today.

It was the first day I began to learn Ninjutsu.

* * *

Like everything else so far in this world, I found myself extremely disappointed. I began to curse the Shinigami for giving me this terrible luck of mine. Hiashi-Baka had told me he had handpicked amazing jutsu for me to learn. When I arrived at the Library, the old woman named Aki handed me the scrolls Hiashi-Baka left for me to learn.

The amazing jutsu he had left were Lo and behold, none other than the Kawarimi , Henge , and the Bunshin no Jutsu. In my infinite rage, I marched into his office and slammed the scrolls on his desk.

"HOW ARE THESE IN ANY WAY AMAZING?!"

Hiashi adopted a confused look on his face. Hizashi turned to face me and asked:

"What scrolls did you give him?" staring at Hiashi with a quizzical look.

"I left him the Academy Jutsu, but that's more than any child his age is learning."

Hizashi bursted into a giggling fit.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY HIZASHI-BAKA!"

"Now, now calm down Hiro-kun. Believe it or not you have to learn the basics before you can move on to being a good ninja. They are there to teach you how to mold the chakra in specific ways and to teach you how to properly do hand signs. When you have completely mastered these academy jutsu I will allow you to learn another jutsu I pick out for you. If you can master these techniques in 3 months I will teach you the Shunshin no Jutsu with another D-Rank Jutsu."

" *sigh* Okay"

Picking up the scrolls Hiroaki walked out Hiashi's office and headed to his personal "training ground" in the forest. Reaching the grounds he set down the scrolls and opened up Kawarimi no Jutsu scroll.

" _This is going to take forever..Hiashi had a point though. I need to start somewhere and what better way than to start with the academy jutsu. Hopefully i'm not as hopeless as i am in Taijutsu."_

* * *

 **Time Skip: 3 months later**

* * *

"The first thing you have to remember is to NEVER lose sight of where you are going. Since you are just beginning, moving this fast WILL disorient you. DO NOT lose focus or you can end up hurting yourself badly. Now this jutsu only requires the Tiger Hand Seal. Remember how the Kawarimi no Jutsu feels in terms of of trying to replace yourself with another object, think of moving to what you have locked on too. Remember, this Jutsu takes more chakra. Begin"

With the Tiger Hand Seal in place, Hiroaki began to mold his chakra. * **Poof*** Smoke erupted from Hiro's last position. * **Splash*** Hiro reappeared 10 meters too far ahead, he ended up puncturing the surface of the pond and embed himself into the floor.

Pulling himself out of the water, Hiro began to cough up water. " What did I do wrong, Hiashi-sensei ?"

" You performed the Jutsu well you just have to get used to the amount of speed that you are traveling at. That is why you missed your landing spot and crashed into the pond. You kept the jutsu activated for too long as well."

Hiashi turned around and began walking away.

"I have to attended to Clan business now. I'll come back and see how your training is doing by the end of the day."

Hiroaki began walking to his usual spot in the forest. _"I have to ask him if he he can help me learn this jutsu like he helped me with the academy jutsu."_

"Hiro-kun, how did your training session go?"

"Oh you know, about the same as usual. My sensei left me with the basic information needed. Do you think you could help me with this Jutsu as well?"

It had been a little over two years since I had ran into Itachi training in the woods. Seeing another instrumental character from Naruto was exciting. I could barely keep my excitement in check when I had approached him.

I had remembered how the Hyūga and the Uchiha did not like each other. So I had approached him with an offer. I would help him with his chakra control, if he could help me in other areas I needed help him. He was skeptical at first. After I taught him how to successfully stand on a tree he decided to help me as well.

"You know, why don't you train with your family Itachi-kun? I would imagine the Mighty Uchiha would help you get stronger."

"My father is busy with the Police Force and the others not in the Police Force are in the Frontlines. It's easier if I just train here and supplement things with the Academy teachings."

" When are you going to graduate Itachi-kun? The academy doesn't have high standards you know."

Itachi stopped throwing his kunai and looked at just stared at me for a moment and went back at throwing his Kunai.

" My father has forbade me from graduating until next year. When are you going to enter the academy? You are technically behind everyone else your age."

Dropping the smirk on my face. I glanced down at the scroll in front of me.

"Hiashi-Sama wants me to enter the academy when I turn 5 or 6. I think he wants me to completely miss the war going on. Especially after my mother's death.."

Picking up the scroll, I pocketed it and began to build my chakra.

"Shunshin no Jutsu!"

"Evening, Hiro-kun. How was your day?"

"It was productive Oji-sama. I was wondering. Could I join the Academy this year? Other Clan children are joining my age."

* **Sigh*** "Everything is not so simple Hiro-kun. You are the only male born to the male family this generation. We can't risk you being sent into a war. I promised your Kaa-chan that I would keep you safe when she left to the front lines. "

"Please Oji-sama, I can't bear to be here anymore. Everyone avoids me except for you and Oji-San. I want friends. Please let me sign-up. I'll do whatever you say!" I looked at him with a pleading look in my eyes.

I had gotten very bored at the compound. Everyday would be the same. Hiashi and/or Hizashi would give me a quick lesson and I was left on my own. I could only see Itachi on days he wasn't too busy at the academy. It would be okay if I was allowed access to more scrolls and more jutsu.

Hiashi had put a stop to that quickly. He imposed bans on all potential dangerous scrolls until I graduated from the academy. He reasoned that even though my chakra control was more than enough to learn many of the jutsu, he thought I would not be patient and responsible enough to be entrusted into handling the Ninjutsu.

"Fine, but I don't want you to graduate to early HIro-kun. There is war and not enough shinobi to be sent to the front lines. They would send you supply runs since your smaller and seen as a disposable assets. I will handle the forms tomorrow. Classes begin in a month's time. Use this time to review the basic skills you already have."

"Thank you Oji-sama! You have no idea how much this means to me."

Getting up Hiroaki went back to his room and layed down. " _Okay, now that I'm in the academy I have to graduate faster than I wanted too. Now that I have been giving a second chance what am I supposed to do with it. Why did the Shinigami bring me here? I know I have to become stronger… What's my purpose here?"_

Suddenly it hit him. " _Why don't I just ask the Shinigami? Minato summons him to seal the Kyuubi! I just have to be there when he does! Then I can ask the damn demon in person! That means I have to survive until the Kyuubi attacks. I can't change anything that happens. Obito has to unleash the Kyuubi no Kitsune.."_

 _*_ **Sigh*** " _That can't be to hard right?"_

* * *

 **Time Skip: 1.5 years**

 **Hiroaki:6 Academy Student**

 **Itachi:8 Genin**

 **Kakashi:13 Jounin**

 **Obito: "Deceased"**

 **Rin: Deceased**

 **Anko:10 Academy Student**

 **2 Weeks before Iwagakure Massacre**

* * *

"Hyūga-San report!" bellowed out a deep voice from in front of the classroom.

Lifting his head up from the table, Hiro yawned.

"What did you say Soka-sensei?"

Killer intent began to wash all around the small room. The tall, dark haired man grew angrier and angrier. In a smoky haze, the man appeared in front of the still yawning Hyūga. He reached and grabbed the boy.

"You will run 50 laps around the Academy for snoozing away in class. Now pay attention or you will have an 'accident' on your way home today. Am I making myself clear?"

"Y-yes sen-sensei"

"As I was saying, our shinobi reserves in the village have been at an all time low. Usually a Genin Team would be responsible for this next assignment given to us but it has been deemed to be safe enough for us to handle it. Next week we will be delivering food rations and water supply to a supply outpost near the Capital."

Silence reigned over the small classroom. Only 6 students remained in the advanced course. Many of the older students were put into Genin teams and sent out to the front lines. The ones left behind were to remain in the city to do D-ranks until there were openings in Chunin and Genin teams.

"Are we graduating early this year?" Spoke a purple haired girl.

"No, this is a real mission. Fortunately for you students, there is not an immediate need for you in combat. That doesn't mean the same for me. As a Chunin I still have to do missions, there is only one Genin team available in the village at the moment. Due to the size of the shipment we need more people to transport. That's were you 6 come into play. All you will be required to do is help move the supplies and help deliver them. With me and the Genin team it should be more than enough to provide protection. We are too deep in Hi no Kuni to be attacked."

A black haired boy quickly rose to his feet. " But Soka-sensei, my parents would never let me go on a real mission when we haven't even graduated yet."

"You are all here to be Shinobi of the Konohagakure! We need those who will be willing to lay down their lives for their village. If you don't want to do that then get out of my class. Now!"

The students all looked at each other. The black haired boy and two other got up and grabbed their things and left the room.

"Hyūga-San you need to get permission from Hiashi-Sama in order for you to go. Mitarashi-San you're an orphan the choice is yours to make. Kenta-San, ask your parents . Keep this in mind, if you all decide to follow through and complete this mission. I will recommend you all for graduation to the Hokage. Dismissed"

Leaving the stunned students in silence, Soka went to report to the Sandaime Hokage.

"Are you going to go Anko-San? I know me and Hiro-san will end up going. We are the strongest students here after all" said Kenta ending with a smirk.

"Tsch, you're the oldest one here Kenta-Baka. I'm 10, Hiro-kun is 6 and you're 12. Why are you still in the academy?" Anko finished by giving a glare at Kenta.

"You know, fighting isn't going to get us anywhere. Are you going to be able to do it Kenta? I know civilian families are less willing to part with children."

"Oh please, I could say the same about you _Hiroaki-SAMA_. I doubt your Ojisan will be willing to let you go." Kenta said with a sneer.

"I'll be here when we leave, what excuse will you have civilian?" I quickly replied. Not giving him a chance to respond I began walking toward the door.

* * *

"NO! That's the end of this discussion. Now go to your room before I bar you from training!" Hiashi roared to the long brown haired boy in front of him.

"Ojisan, please if I can do this simple supply mission I will be allowed to graduate. If I do graduate this early it will only reflect brightly on the Hyūga dominance. Imagine what the village would say! A young Hyūga who hasn't unlocked his byakugan beat out the Uchiha with a younger academy graduate!"

The council members in the back started to whisper. " The boy makes a point. The _Uchiha_ have been seen as superior with more of their children going into the shinobi ranks. With Hiroaki graduating, it would give us more leverage in the council meetings."

* **Sigh*** Hiashi looked over to his younger brother and then his wife. Looking back to Hiroaki, he adopted a serious and stern look. Hiashi began to speak out loud , silencing the whispers of the Hyūga council.

"Fine. You will be representing the entire Hyūga clan in this mission. Don't bring shame to us. Now run along Hiroaki."

Taking my leave, I went to the Hyūga Training Field to work on my new Jutsu. " _The war should be ending soon. I wish the show would have gone into more detail in the war. I can't seem to remember much other than Kakashi losing his teammates."_

The following morning, Hiro jumped up from bed and went to get ready for his day. Pulling his long brown hair into a ponytail, Hiro dressed in black Shinobi pants, a black long sleeve shirt and a white robe with a black sash around the waist. Putting on his standard tool pouch on his his left leg, Hiro pulled out his backpack and headed out to the academy.

While heading to the Academy, Hiro spotted Anko up ahead. Breathing in deep, Hiro shifted into the famous Hyūga mask. "Hello, Anko-san." Hiro continued walking at his idle pace.

"HOW'S IT GOING HIRO-KUN?! ARE YOU EXCITED FOR THE MISSION?" Anko basically screamed right into Hiro's ear.

"Please, keep it down Anko-san. If you keep talking that way you'll wake half the village. As for your questions. I'm fine. I'm quite excited to finally be able to go outside the village." As Hiro finished he let a small smile creep on to his face.

"That's good to know! At least you're not a coward Hiro-kuuun." She teased with a laugh. Pushing her bangs out her sight she bolts down the road toward the academy.

"I don't appreciate you trying to sneak up on me Kenta-San." Hiro said aloud to no one in particular.

"Those eyes of yours are handy Hiro-san." Kenta replied as he came out of the alleyway next to Hiroaki.

"It wasn't my eyes that gave you away. It was your Kami-awful smell." Hiro replied keeping the Hyūga mask on.

Kenta gave a scowl. "I didn't know Hyūga made jokes"

"We don't" Hiro ended with a smirk. Ending the conversation, Hiro leapt on the roof of a nearby building and leapt toward the Academy. Hiro still remembered when he first learned to leap from trees to trees. It had been a very painful experience.

"Now today is the first step toward the rest of your shinobi careers. You three won't be having a graduation ceremony. The Hokage has authorized a special decree. If you lot successfully complete this assignment, you will all be allowed to become Genin." Soka looked over his students with pride in his eyes.

"Excuse me Soka-sensei, but who will be our Jōnin-sensei?" Asked a clearly intrigued Hiroaki.

"That has not been decided yet. It may be some time before a Jōnin will become available to take on students. In any case, you three will be on call to substitute for other Genin until a Jōnin comes to lead your team. Met me tomorrow at the Hokage Tower 7:30 a.m. Dismissed."

* * *

 **Next Morning**

Hiro looked into the mirror. " _This life. I can't be a failure. I will get past this mission. I will come back. I won't die this time."_ Grabbing his supplies, Hiro walked to the Hizashi's house.

"Oisan what brings you by so early?"

"I just wanted to say goodbye to little Neji."

"Ah, please come in. He's in the nursery."

Hiro made his way over to Neji's room. Stepping inside, he made his way over to the sleeping boy's crib.

"I'll be going now little one. I'll come back and tell you if my adventures outside the village. I'll see you soon."

Hiro stepped out of his uncle's house. Performing the tiger seal, Hiro poofed out of the compound.

* **POOF***

"Wow! You know Shunshin?!" Anko shrieked as I landed in front of the waiting team.

"I know more than I let on Anko-San." I turned away looking too see if Soka-sensei was anywhere in sight. "Has Kenta arrived yet?" I mused aloud.

"No. There both late." Anko said with annoyance in her voice. Pushing her bangs aside, she let out a huff.

 **2 hours later**

The group had made its way through the Village gates with 2 wagon that held the supplies. The Genin Teams formed around each individual wagon. Hiroaki's team had the rear wagon. The other Genin Team were posted in front to react faster to any possible threat.

The wagons were covered completely with a type of special seal in the front that blocked out the contents of what they carried. Hiro had noticed it immediately.

"Sensei… Why are the supplies hidden if they were just supposed to be food and water..?" Hiro asked with a nervous chattering running through his small frame.

"It's classified. Now shut up and pay attention to your surrounding." Soka reached into his bag and pulled out three scrolls. Handing them to Hiro, Soka told him to give one to Anko and Kenta. Soka then picked up his pace and left the three in the back.

" _They lied to us.. The Hokage lied to his own shinobi. What are we carrying that not even fellow Leaf Shinobi aren't supposed to know what it is…."_ Hiro began to feel anxious and scared. _"Even in this life my luck is absolutely abysmal. Only I could have been put on such a task for my first excursion."_

"Do you two feel uneasy with what we are transporting" Hiro said in whisper.

"Nope. Don't care what were transporting. All I know is that the Hokage wants this delivered so it will be delivered." Anko said in a bored tone.

"Not everything should be done that way. We should not have been lied to that way by the Hokage." Hiroaki spoke with more assurance in his voice.

"We are not even Genin. Should we be captured we would know nothing of this missions except our orders. The enemy would not know anymore than what they take and information is not one of the things they could take from us" spoke a bored Kenta. " I would assume you would know that...but then you're just a child aren't you." Kenta ended with a smirk.

Hiro stared at Kenta. "I might be younger than both of you but I'm stronger than the both of you." Hiro turned his attention back on to the road. " _Maybe I'm just looking too much into it. Were about a day away from our arrival. This should be a piece of cake._

* * *

 **A/N 5/4/16: Here I just wanted to let any of the readers know that I do plan on continuing this story until at least 20k words. If enough readers want me to continue you it from that point on I will. I plan on advancing the story at a slower rate from when the 3rd Shinobi war ends. I will begin focusing on fleshing the characters out and building better relationships. I have also written most of the the mission by the time of this posting but i will go back and change some of the story depending on the reviews that I do get. For my first question, Do you guys think Hiro should unlock is Kekkei Genkai? I have thought of several scenarios for him unlocking this or maybe different dojutsu like the Kerryugan, or even the Tensiegan. I had an idea of a byakugan/kerryugan mix but haven't really fleshed out any of the abilities the eyes would do. Another question would be if i should have Anko and Kenta as Hiro's teammates? Thank you for reading and I'll update this sometime during the weekends.**


	2. Ch2 Op:Nightfall Pt1

**Operation Nightfall**

 **Part One: Roaming Outlet**

The group advanced through the gates of a small village around ten miles from Konohagakure. Keeping in formation, the Jonin called for them to stop. " you three in the back, front and center!" moving like blurs to the untrained eye, the three academy students appeared in front of their commander. " You three will be going to the shopping district to meet our informant in this village. Collect the scroll and make your way to the village gates. You have one !"

"Wait, how does the contact look like sir?" Asked a confused Kenta. The three academy students looked at the Nara Jonin. "Tall, Long blonde hair. Now get going. We don't have all day to wait on you Gaki."

The trio began to walk off with Kenta in the lead and Anko with Hiro flanking his sides. "Kenta...do you even know where you're taking us..?" Anko asked cautiously. Hiro looked at Anko with realization in his eyes. Kenta stopped walking and sighed. Turning around he spoke up. *Sigh* " God Dammit, Why didn't you ask him Hiro?!" Hiro looked at him with the infamous Hyuga stare and began walking past him. "We will just have to find it on our own."

The group moved past the increasing number of people walking through the now crowded streets. "We came at the worst time ugh!" A frustrated ANko said. "No its perfect for meeting undetected. There's too many people for us to be tracked or located easily." said Hiro. "That's why we are here to locate the informant it's been chosen carefully"

 **2 hours later**

"We're so fucked…" Anko said aloud to no one in particular. "Kenta...we have to go back...we just have to tell them we lost the informant…" *Sigh* " Let's get going Kenta..we've been gone too long." Hiro said with reluctance oozing from his voice. "Okay, let's go back to camp." Kenta said with resignation.

From the shadows, someone slowly made their way after them.

The defeated trio made their way back to the gate to find that their caravan was not there anymore. Only Soka was there sitting down beside a guard post. "HEY! You three. You're LATE! You were supposed to be here an hour ago."

"Sorry sensei.. We failed to procure the information. There were too many that fit the description." Kenta looked away. " HAHAHAHA you were never supposed to find him. We said that to track anyone who might have been following us out into the open. The information we wanted is now in our hands." Soka said still stifling his laughter.

"Soka-sensei if we couldn't find him, then how did we get the information? Asked a curious Anko.

"We used you as the signal of course. He saw you from a distance and simply went to the predetermined spot that we had been told and collected the info there."

"Why didn't you tell us that before we went out and made fools of ourselves!" yelled a now angry Anko. Hiro and kenta went and began to restrain the purple-haired girl from attacking their sensei.

Soka began to laugh again. " We had to make it believable. Any experienced shinobi would have seen through a ruse if you three were in on it. Besides we accomplished that part of this mission. All we have to do now is get to the outpost and deliver the supplies." Soka ended the conversation and began walking out of the small village.

The man stepped away from the shadows and followed them from a distance.

 **That Night**

Six shadows blurred through the forest. Moving faster than the untrained eye could see. Leaping from tree to tree, they fell down to the small clearing below them. A single shadow emerged from the ground.

"Update" the single shadowed echoed into the dark night.

"8 shinobi. 2 Genin teams and their respective leaders. There taking unkown supplies to an undisclosed location. The party stopped in a small town before they split up. One party went north to the Kumo Lines with one wagon and a new shinobi that tagged along. The other party stayed in the village for a few hours and headed west toward our front lines. Another shinobi was seen shadowing their movements".

"Could you identify any of the shinobi?" The tall shadow spoke.

"Yes, we identified a Yamanaka, a Nara and a Hyuuga. The Nara and the Yamanaka were heading north. The Hyuuga was a small genin, seen without a seal heading west."

"The first three of you, follow the westbound team. Their supplies must not reach their forces. With our own attack soon coming we must stop them from supplying the Suna and Konoha shinobi. Follow and attack when they settle down to make camp." The first group of shinobi scattered into the trees.

"The remaining group. You must take word back to headquarters. The Tsuchikage and the council will want to know what's happening on our end." The shadow reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll. Handing it to the nearest shinobi. The team scattered and the Shadow disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

 **Two Days Later**

" _Where am I?"_ I had awoken in the middle of the night. I found myself blindfolded and tied up. " _What happened? Where is Soka-sensei? Where's Kenta and Anko?"_ I asked myself. I tried moving my hands. I found out quickly that there was no way that I could even move an inch. My hands were tightly bound.

 _ **Smooth Flashback Transition**_

I tried to gather chakra and it was a bust. I couldn't form any of the hand seals to use any jutsu.

" _I need to remember what the hell happened. Me and Anko were resting while Kenta and Soka-sensei kept watched. The next thing I know was I smelt smoke. So much smoke that I couldn't even breathe. Then there was the screaming. The movements outside the tent. Then the cry of Anko as she bursted into tent to grab me."_

We had been attacked! I remember! I had gotten up and started to run outside to try and see what was happening. That's when I saw Soka-sensei and Kenta fighting off the three attackers. My body moved on it's own. Up until this point I hadn't really believed in muscle memory and the subconscious. I had always been forced to focus on exactly what I wanted to do in the academy. It was this moment that showed what the training i had been doing was working.

In less than a second my body had already began to throw a kunai as my body launched itself into combat. I didn't need to tell my body to do anything it just moved on its own. When a shinobi broke off from the group to engage me, my body brought up a kunai and blocked several of his strikes. When the shinobi used a Jutsu my arms and hands speed through hand signs of my own.

Real battling was very different than what I had imagined. There is never any time to think or have dialogue and conversations with the enemy. The way the battles are portrayed in the anime was fake. There was too many actions and reactions that talking was not one of them. The instincts ruled action. There was very little thinking in the pitch of battles. These battles happened much faster than what we were all lead to believe.

Time was also a finicky thing in the heat of battle. Every moment I saw myself do was slowed down. Everything the enemy did was slow. I knew that that couldn't be the case. As I looked at the Anko she had barely came out of the tent. Only a few seconds had passed. That was why shinobi often disengaged was to get enough of an opening to strategize or do other things like speak.

In my own battle, the shinobi kept pressing his attack. He was not disengaging to plan any course of action. He had to have been a Genin. Every slash and strike the opponent made was out of instinct. He was attacking like an animal, no grace in his movements. Anko had finally managed to join the fight and began to take his attention off of me.

That's when I realized how hard I was shaking. I took a deep breath and tried to gather my chakra. The effect was instant. I calmed down. Time slowed down even more. I felt my senses reach a higher plateau. The battle in front of me seemed to slow to a crawl. I settled into the Juuken stance. Gathering as much chakra as I could into both of my hands. "Anko! Move!"

" **Hakke Kusho** " (Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm)

I moved my palms out in front of me and released as much chakra as I could from the tenketsu points from my hands. The genin went flying from Anko as she had leapt away from the spot.I was not relatively unharmed either. Aside from using more than 80 percent of my chakra on that jutsu, it had launched me in the opposite direction.

"Oh crap.. That hurt." I looked up as I picked myself up from the brush that I had been flown to. I saw the Genin that I had hit start to get up. " _Damn my useless eyes! I must have missed most of his tenketsu points if he is getting up!"_ I began to move toward Anko when I heard a scream. Looking and finding that Soka had been injured!

The next ten seconds passed faster than time had been going. In that moment my heart had dropped. As much as I wanted to move to help him, my body refused to move. No longer was time at a stand still. The world moved faster than I wanted it too. The Iwa Jonin turned his attention to Kenta. The Genin fighting Kenta began running to help the other Genin. Anko moved to Kenta's side.

I heard the screams directed at me to go help them. My legs refused to move. I continued to look at them with horror in my eyes as they began to fight against the Jonin. The two Genin then turned toward me and leapt up to fight me. All I could help to do was to keep thinking the same thing over and over again.

" _Maybe I'm just looking too much into it. This should be a piece of cake."_

 **A/N: Quick update. I have been busy with class and finals recently and didn't have much time to work on the story. I missed my weekend update schedule so I decided to stay up all night and bring this quick chapter to you guys. Hope you enjoy. Review please.**


	3. Ch3 Nightfall Pt2

**Disclaimer:Don't own Naruto.**

 **Part 2**

Being born a Hyūga meant a great deal of things. Being blessed with a Kekkei Genkai meant that I was always a target. Being born into the Main Branch meant I had an even bigger target on me. Even though most of the Hyūga seem to ignore my existence, I had been blessed with a powerful family.

I had an entire library at my fingertips. Anything I wanted, I could very well get. Training was never an issue. I was never behind anyone in training. If anything my training had been advanced past most Genin in the village.

Being a Hyūga meant I was born with abnormally high chakra control and high chakra reserves. By all accounts, I should be able to win a battle against most Genin. I had been born privileged in this shinobi world. While I had to work harder than everyone else just to be dismissed and ignored didn't matter.

There was one crucial thing that I was not born with. As privileged as I was, I didn't have any battle experience. Training for days and days at a time means nothing if the knowledge isn't readily available for use. It means nothing if my body does not react.

Seeing real blood in battle was an eye opener. I wasn't ready to be a shinobi. As much as I wanted to move. As much as I wanted to help my teammates. As much as I wanted to throw myself into battle again. There was one subconscious desire that out ruled them all. It was my desire to live.

I wanted to live so badly. I wanted it more than anything I have ever wanted in my life. More than my first life. I had a second chance. Yet, here I was, fighting in a war. Close to death at any moment.

So when my body finally began to move, even to my own surprise and protest. It went away from the battle. Pouring the remaining chakra I had into my legs to propel me faster and farther with each stride and leap I could through the forest.

I heard the enemy closing up behind me. My body moved on its own. Leaping and dodging from shuriken and the kunai that were being hurled toward me. This was when I realized what I was doing.

I had left them to certain death. As much as I wanted to live, I couldn't let them die because I was too scared to fight. I finally regained control of my body. Instead of running away, I began to fight back. Instead of being a coward, I fought for not only my life but for theirs as well.

Twisting midair from my leap, I threw two shuriken toward my chasers. When I finally felt my feet hit the next branch, I pushed myself backward and attacked them head on. The noise of steel battering against each other began to echo through the quiet night.

The sounds of desperation rang in the air. I continued to push the two back to where my team was. With each leap, I continued to batter away at them with everything I had. After what seemed an eternity I had pushed them back far enough to see what was going on.

I was too late. The two Genin leapt back to their Jōnin side. In front of him were the tied up bodies of Anko, Kenta and Soka.

"Make this easy on yourself. Give up. Accept your fate. You lost. Your team lost. Your leader is half dead. Your supplies have been compromised. Give up now and we will let you live." spoke the Iwa Jōnin.

Closing my eyes, I let myself fall into the all too familiar Juuken Stance. Opening my eyes, the world around me began to change. I could finally see the real world around me. Every blade of grass moving from the winds. The chakra moving in the shinobi in front of me and the lone man hiding behind us in the trees.

For the second time that day my heart dropped. We were not going to come out of it. If for whatever chance I did manage to bet the shinobi in front of me. There was no way that I would be able to defeat the man watching the battle. Any hope I had was crushed. I expected the man to attack any second but he didn't. It was only I began to actually look at him and his slight movements did I realize he was signing a message to me.

That was the last thing I saw. I lost track of the three in front of me. Only darkness swept over me. I started to lose my consciousness. My sight returned to normal only to find the Jonin with his fist in my gut.

* * *

" _Oh damn it. I'm not going anywhere now. Who knows how longs it has been since the attack. I need to make a game plan. The only logical solution is for me to wait until we arrive to where they are taking me. I wonder if i'm the only one they took or did they take the team as well? I doubt they would. They would only slow them down so deep in our territory. No they must have taken me to sell me to the Hidden Cloud Village."_

Breathing in as deep as I could, I closed my eyes and tried to listen to my surroundings. Nothing. There was no sound. There was only silence. Even when i exhaled as loud as I could, I couldn't hear myself. " Hello..!" Nothing. I knew I had spoken. I felt the tremors in my throat as I spoke aloud. " _Oh man… Did they make me go deaf…!"_ I began to panic and shake more and more.

Suddenly, something hit me very hard in my chest. The man removed the blindfold from my face and I saw the Jonin that had attacked my team. " Shut up Hyuga brat". Then he slammed his fist into my face bringing unconsciousness.

"Tell us. What were your orders?!" A fist slammed into my chest for the hundredth time that night. "Tell us and we can stop this. You have the power to end this. All you have to do is tell us the information we want." The man stepped back and pulled out a Kunai from a black bag that was resting on a table.

"Like I already said..I'm not even a shinobi." I continued to cough up some blood. " You won't get anything from me." I spat on the floor and looked at my captor.

The man reached in his bag and pulled out a small scroll with a 'Ne' seal. "You have your orders on this here scroll. Now I want you to open it. That's all you have to do." He reached and cut the bindings from my hand. He stood up and left the scroll on the table. "I will comeback in half an hour. I expect the scroll to be open by then."

As he was walking out, a young woman with shoulder-length light brown hair and emerald green eyes, walked in. "Nanigashi, only heal the necessary wounds." The man left and closed the door.

The woman walked toward the table and picked up the scroll. "So I'm guessing Soka got caught up doing something?" She pondered aloud. "Danzō is recruiting younger and younger these days *sigh*." She did a number of hand signs and the scroll began to glow.

" _Danzō…? What does he have to do with this…"._ I stared at her writing furiously in the scroll before she sealed it again. She walked toward me and took my palm. Using my blood, she did drew a small seal on my hand. It began to glow and she placed the scroll on it. The scroll then disappeared.

"Don't stop running until you get this back to Danzō personally. That scroll will change the world kid. You will only have..." She kept talking but I didn't listen. I kept thinking over and over again. " _That's why we never made it into the Hokage tower that day. He wasn't the one to hand the mission. That's why Soka split us up from the main group. We were never supposed to make it to the outpost."_ Everything dawned on me.

* **BOOM** * "I guess your distraction is here kid." She pulled out her Tanto and stabbed herself in the leg. She then handed me the blade. "Go! South for ten kilometers. Someone will meet you in the canyons."

She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs. I immediately bolted from the room and ran down the passageway. Immediately the sound of other explosions reached and rocked the building we were in. Reaching the first window I saw, I smashed through and jumped out.

Hitting the floor from the second floor I looked around and I saw a massive shadow over me. I didn't even bother looking for the source. From the amount of screams I heard I decided that I didn't want to know what was causing it.

I ran past several heaps of what looked to have once been human bodies. Picking up a small flask and a Hitai-ite off the floor and wrapping it around my left bicep. I began to run past the gate and head down the winding road.

 **-5 Hours Later-**

 **-8:00 P.M-**

" _Where am I? *_ Sigh* _I should have asked her where we were. Kami why is everything so difficult. Damn Shinigami-Baka."_ I continued walking through the winding narrow roads that traveled and encompassed the canyons.

Spotting a small cave I head into rest for the night. Stepping into the cave I noticed it was large enough to sleep in. " _I guess this will do. Not like I have much of a choice."_ I sit down on a nearby stone and begin to inspect my many bruises.

Grabbing the flask I drank the remaining amount of water. I brush rocks off of a small spot and I lay down.

 **-12:30 P.M-**

I wake up instantly at the sounds of rustling from outside the cave. Grabbing the Tanto and unsheathing it, I begin to slowly move toward the cave opening. Reaching the opening I stop. Feeling the cold, sharp blade pressing into my throat.

"Kukuku, look at what we have here." A voice echoed through the small cave. Only the green slits of his eyes glowed in the darkness of the night. "Anyone else would have killed you by now Hiro-kun." He eased the blade from my throat and allowed me to turn.

Turning around I saw for the first time in this world the true definition of a monster. I was staring into the eyes of the infamous snake, Orochimaru.

 **A/N: Another quick update before the weekend. I felt like my last update was rushed and just wasn't big enough. So I hope I can extend that with this small chapter. Next update will hopefully be as big as the this chapter and the last combined.**

 **Questions: Should I write more First Person?**


	4. Ch4 Before Dawn

**Before Dawn**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"Oro-chimaru?" I managed to stutter out. I was hoping I was still caught in a dream. I knew that deep down this was not a dream. The blade to my throat had confirmed that. The fear in my heart confirmed that. The monster in front of me confirmed that.

"Kukukuku, my reputation precedes me. Now tell me, Hiro-kun. What is a Hyuga Prince doing in Tsuchi no Kuni? Not to mention that you're wearing the Hitai-ite of an Iwa Shinobi."

Orochimaru began to circle me keeping his blade at my throat level.

"I-I-" I tried stuttering out.

"You wouldn't betray Konoha now would you?" Orochimaru gave me a foul grin.

"N-n-no, I was captured. Their was thi-is wo-m-man there that let me go." I tried to stutter out but the killing intent Orochimaru was releasing was taking its effect.

Remembering what she told me, I held up my arm toward him. The seal began to glow in the darkness.

Orochimaru smiled. "So you decided to join our little organization." Orochimaru put his blade away in its sheath.

I sighed in relief. "No. I'm here out of circumstance."

"Kukukuku. You're here aren't you? You must have given her a reason to seem trustworthy." Orochimaru pulled a small candy wrapper and tossed at me. "Eat. We leave in 30."

 **-2:00 A.M-**

Orochimaru and I were slowly making our way through the canyons. Crouching and crawling past what seemed to be hundreds of shinobi scouring the area for us. In the past hour we had only managed to go forward around 2 Kilometers.

Now, to normal people that might seem slow but a person could slowly walk that in an hour. In this world, that was very slow. At top speed, I could travel 15 Kilometers in an hour. We were practically forced to crawl.

Currently we are right below, a group of 4 shinobi. We were currently trapped in a small cave. Orochimaru must be incredibly bored. It was more than obvious I was the one who was holding us back. If he did not have to take me back to Konoha, he would have been able to escape undetected hours ago.

"Were going to have to fight our way out of here. There not letting up their search, Orochimaru-sama. It is by luck alone they have not brought on sensor-nin." I whispered out.

"No. They've surround us on purpose." Orochimaru said back. "They herded us into a trap. There waiting on someone to arrive. We might as well spring the trap now." Orochimaru took out two small food pills and handed one to me. "I'll take on the brunt of the force. When you see any openings in their formation, strike from the shadows."

Orochimaru began to speed through the hand signs. Slamming his hands on the floor he yelled. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu"

Two massive snakes broke through the small cave and began to attack the shinobi above us. Orochimaru grabbed me and pointed me to another cave system. " There are opening everywhere through the caves. If you see me call forth Manda, The Purple Snake that is your signal to leave. Do Not Let The Enemy See You." He then sank into the ground.

Taking in a deep breath, I moved slowly through the small system and spotted the first opening. Barely enough to slip through a few shuuriken. " _Okay. Okay. I need to concentrate."_ Looking through the small hole. I regretted it instantly.

The only word that comes to mind to describe what I saw was 'Massacre'. There was the snakes tearing apart the poor shinobi in their path. Effectively blocking out the other shinobi from getting to The center of the battle. In the direct middle between the rocks, Orochimaru was a pale blur hobbing off limbs and killing the dozen shinobi that were trapped with him. Blood began to ooze from the bodies and drench the soil.

Seeing there were shinobi jumping away from the main group I began to target them and threw my first shuuriken. Striking one of the shinobi in the leg, he fell mid way through his leap. The man cried for help but only Orochimaru came to him. Stabbing him through his heart.

My body trembled. My hands shook. My heart raced. The world was slowing to a crawl. Every movement outside slowed down to a crawl. Yet Orochimaru, moved much faster than everyone else could. My hands were trembling, I was the direct reason that man had died.

I had to get myself under control. I couldn't breathe. A massive explosion rocked the entire canyon side. The shockwave launched me into the side of the cave and all I saw was black.

I awoke to someone grabbing me. "We've caught you know Hyuga. We won't let you live this time." An Iwa shinobi stood over me and took out his kunai. As he launched forward, I began to mold my chakra. I felt my body shoot the chakra from the tenketsu facing the shinobi. The shinobi was launched away from me as he hit the wall of chakra.

Getting up from the floor I began to look around at the battlefield. The landscape hand been transformed by something awful. There were no snakes anymore. Where Orochimaru once stood was a massive crater. The cave systems had collapsed down and exposed the tunnels in the rocks. Shinobi all over the battlefield still had not recovered from what had attacked.

I began to move to the center of the crater when I saw a pale hand emerge from the ground. Feeling the building anxiety in me vanish, I ran toward the hand and began to pull him out of the rocks and the rubble. Orochimaru wa covered in blood. His flak jacket was shredded and had turned the green to a dark red color.

Orochimaru began to laugh loudly. "So you survived Hiru-kun. Not without injury I see." I stared at him confused and he pointed to my left hand. Looking down at my hand, I saw I had broken my wrist. "We need to leave now. That wasn't any regular explosion."

"What do-" I said before he launched himself and me into the crater. Seconds later another explosion rocked the canyons. "What the-" I got out before Oro put his hand over my mouth. He began to sign out a message.

He saw the confusion in my eyes and sighed. He began to whisper, " Shinobi, on top of the southridge. He's launching an explosive jutsu." Orochimaru smiled. He formed a hand sign and a mud copy of us, came up from the ground.

They climbed out and we waited in the crater. "Byakugan?." He pointed at me. I stared at him and shook my head no. He closed his eyes and began to think.

I followed his lead and began to try and think. Concentrating I began to realize what Jutsu Orochimaru could be talking about. Opening my eyes in realization , I grabbed Orochimaru.

"We need to leave now. He's using a Kekkei Genkai! The entire field could be coated with his explosive chakra!" He grasped my mouth and forced me to be quiet. Hearing me, he began to think for a moment. He grabbed me and began to do hand signs.

"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu"

He encapsulated us and drove us into the ground.

 **3 Hours Later**

 **5:25 A.M**

3 hours and 15 kilometers underground makes anyone extremely tired. We can't stop moving though. We have to keep moving. Their still after us. There pursuing us across nations. The desolate rock and mountains turned into open fields of rain. Rain like nothing else I had seen.

We had stopped trying to fight back after the first hour. There was too many of them. Dozens at a time would be following and trying to engage us. Our chakra reserves had dwindled to the bare minimum of allowing us to continue going. Their top priority was not even to get me either. It was to take down one of the Densetsu no Sannin.

Moving through the hard rain was an issue. Every leap and jog was hellish in those conditions. Most of the shinobi had stopped chasing a while ago. There was still one Jonin giving chase a distance away.

Orochimaru was looking beyond exhausted. His leaps were getting slower and weaker. We were slowing down and fast. He had cuts everywhere and looked if possible, looked paler than he ever had. I wasn't doing any better myself with multiple cuts running along my arms and legs.

"I'm going to stop up ahead by that tree. You will get back to konoha. Do not stop for any reason. There should be an outpost for Konoha near the Ame-Konoha border. You will be stopped at the border. Tell them that you have a 'Code 3'. They should give you immediate transport back to Konoha. Only Danzō will know how to undo the seal."

Orochimaru reached into his back pouch and took out three food pills and took two of handed me one. "Take this when we split up."

I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness and confusion. Why would _HE_ do this much for Konoha? Why would he do this much for me? No one would go to these lengths for me before. Not even in my other life.

From what I remember from the show, he was always disturbed. I didn't get much time before he suddenly reversed his position and launched himself back toward the Iwa Jōnin. I had to keep pushing forward. I just wanted this to end.

 ***BOOM***

The shockwave sent me flying for the second time that day. This time I didn't get smashed into any rocks. I was just sent flying into the ground.

" _Damn it!"_ Pushing my already overtaxed body up from the ground I looked back. Orochimaru looked to be holding himself up with his sword. " _I can't leave him. I can't abandon a comrade. Not again."_

I grabbed the 2 food pills I had and took them. Feeling a surge of new chakra, I readied myself to fight again. I began to make my way to the battlefield again.

"I told you to leave." He muttered out.

"You'll die without me". I replied.

The Iwa Jōnin laughed. "You'll both die here for your crimes against Iwagakure." The tall blonde man turned to me and spit at the ground. He raised his Kunai and pointed it at me. " I will avenge the students you slaughtered ."

Before I could reply, the Jōnin had launched his Kunai toward me. I should have died for the 50th time that day. Except Orochimaru swatted it out of the air.

The Jōnin reached into a pouch and threw an odd colored shuriken toward us. Without thinking I threw my own shuriken to meet it in flight. The shuriken exploded. The shockwaves flattened me across the floor.

I didn't try to get up immediately this time. I just tried to think of what to do. Collecting some of my chakra I tried to expand my senses, as I layed on the floor. The world opened up to me once more. I could see the world before me like I had that day.

Even with Orochimaru being injured and near chakra exhaustion he was still moving like a blur. The other Jōnin could barely match his speed or prowess. Then I noticed what was happening. The Jōnin was slowly being pushed back.

He was slowly losing ground directly to a place laced with bits of chakra. The Iwa Jōnin was planning on taking Orochimaru out at all cost!

As I started to try and warn him I stopped myself. " _This is Orochimaru. He causes the death of thousands of people. Should I save him? Why did I come back in the first place? Except, he has saved my life too many times to count this night. How can I just let him die? Can I let him die?_

 **A/N: Well first off this update is rather late. I found myself writing and rewriting a lot of this chapter and just not content on how it's flowing out. I originally had something else written down, but decided to move that up to next chapter. So next chapter will not be focusing on our main character! It will focus on what happened and the reaction to Hiroaki's capture. If things go as planned that chapter will be released as early as this Friday. Feedback is appreciated!**

 **Question: What do you think Hiro should do?**


	5. Ch5 Betrayl?

**More than the eyes see**

 **-Morning after the ambush-**

 **-Hiroaki is in transit-**

 **Location: Outpost, 20 Km from Konoha**

Anko woke up feeling the soreness and hurt from battle. She carefully pulled herself up and looked around the tent. She saw the bodies of Kenta and Soka on small mattresses similar to hers. She looked around in confusion before she began to remember the events that had transpired.

She remembered the battle, the blood, the screams from her sensei. She remembered running to help the injured Kenta and Soka. She remembered Hiro getting attacked before he could run to their aide. She remembered being subdued before she could even get a swipe at the Jonin. "Hiro! Where is he!" she practically screamed at the top of her lungs. Looking around the tent trying to see if their was any sign of him.

Only spotting the others, she forced herself up and tried to leave the tent. Before she could take a step forward an older man walked in supporting himself with a cane as he stepped through the tents flaps. "Calm down child. Everything is alright." He continued in and pointed at the bed telling her to get back in bed. "You're lucky to be alive. Shinobi from other villages wouldn't have bothered tying you up." He walked around the tent inspecting the other two injured in their beds.

"Please, do you know if Hiro is okay?" desperation oozing from her voice. Anko looked at the man with tears beginning to form.

The man stared at her for a few seconds before he answered. "That is not for you to know. You and the boy there will be heading back to Konoha this afternoon." He began walking out before he stopped at the entrance. Pulling out a paper from his jacket, he placed it on a small table. "This is your debrief of what happened. I suggest you learn it before you get back to the village." The man then hobbled out of the tent.

Anko stared at the entrance lost. "How are you feeling Anko-San?" Asked a tired sounding Soka.

"Soka-sensei...I'm fine. You?" She replied without bothering to look at the Chunin.

"I've had worse injuries." Soka pulled himself up stretching. "I'm sure Hiro-san is pulling through. The gaki is tough as-"

"He's only 6!" Anko screeched. "How could he be alright!?" She said with tears running down her face. "You're a Chunin in your 20s and you're barely alive!" She slammed her fist down on the table next to her bed.

Soka turned away from her and layed back down.

 **Afternoon**

 **Location: Hyūga compound.**

"Hiashi-sama, a messenger hawk has arrived for you from Hokage-sama." the branch memeber said as he walked into Hiashi's office. He went and layed down the message on the desk and promptly walked out.

Hiashi stopped looking over the papers on his desk and read the note. Rage lit itself in Hiashi. Anger spewed out as he broke his desk in an outburst. "Get me Hizash and the councili NOW! Tell him to meet me in the confrence room!" Hiashi stormed out of his office.

 **5 minutes later**

"What's wrong Hiashi-kun?" Hizashi asked.

Hiashi looked at his brother with sad eyes and handed him the note.

Hizashi looked at him with concern and took the note and began to read.

 _To the Parents/ Legal Guardians of Hiroaki Hyūga,_

 _Hiroaki has been reported as M.I.A/K.I.A in a Transport Mission. Hokage will be starting a meeting at 1500 hours. Your presence was requested._

Hiazashi crunched the paper and threw onto the rest of the council walked in and took their seats around the table.

"Why have you called this meeting Hiashi?" An elder Hyuuga spoke.

"Hiro-kun has been captured." Hiashi gritted through his teeth.

Murmurs began to spread through the room. There were several shouts that Hiroaki should have been branded from the very beginning. Others shouted that he should have been taken out since he was born.

"Enough! IT is done. HE is MY NEPHEW." Hiashi stood up over the table and smashed his fist into the table. "WE need to get him back before something happens to him.

The council murmured more among each other. Whispers heared suggested that maybe it was a blessing that Hiroaki was taken. He wouldn't be a burden on the Hyuga Clan anymore.

The Hyuga elders arose from the table. " Leave this be Hiashi. Hiroaki has been a drain on the resources of the Hyuga. We will no longer support any endeavors for the poor boy. If he survives a Hyūga no longer will he be." The elders continue their verdict.

"Searching for his father who you have refused to tell us his name, has cost us more than enough. We cannot afford to send any Hyuga after him now." The elders began walking and stopped infront of Hizashi and handed him legal documents.

"You could support Hiroaki when he was a child. You have a family now. A young son. You can't afford to support the boy and your family." The elders left leaving a furious Hiashi and a saddend Hizashi.

The brothers stood their quietly and waited for the rest of the elders to walk out.

What did they hand you Hizashi? Hiashi said as he sat down with a grim look on his face.

"Papers that relinquish Hiroaki from the Hyuga clan. It looks like its already been filed. They must have been informed by someone of Hiro-kuns capture." Hizashi looked at the papers in his hands with rising anger. "We can't let them do this Hiashi. Your the Clan Head for Kami's sake."

Responding in anger, Hiashi slammed his hands down on the table. "Don't you think I know that! I have other responsibilities too! If i try and help Hiro-kun, I can be putting you or my wife or this entire clan in jeopardy." Hiashi stood up and turned back to Hizashi. " Gather his things and set them in sealing scrolls."

"Where are you going?"

"If I can't help him through the clan anymore, I'm going to see that does not jeopardize his Shinobi growth." Hiashi said as he walked down the door.

 **-War Council-**

The Hyūga brothers made their way inside the tower and bursted through the council chamber.

ANBU instantly surrounded the brothers before they could advanced any further into the chambers.

"Ah, Hiashi-san. We were waiting for you. ANBU stand down." The Sandaime Hokage commanded. The three ANBU disappeared back into the floor.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about your son this way." Homura said.

Hiashi looked at homura with anger. "He's my nephew. What kind of council is this if you can't even get that right"

"That's enough, Hiashi. Sit down. We have matters to discuss." The Hokage ordered.

Hiashi took his seat and looked at the people in front of him. Danzō Shimura, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane and Hiruzen Sarutobi. "What happened."

"His class and sensei were following a usual shipment to an outpost where they were separated from their Jōnin and Genin escort. On their way back to the village, they were ambushed by a band of criminals. Hiroaki was reported to have battled multiple enemy before being subdued by a missing-nin." Danzō read aloud from the paper in his hands.

"Normally, we wouldn't send out anyone to look for him, since we are at war and can't spare the men. The Hokage said. " But intelligence has gathered that Hiro is being sold to Iwa ninja."

"We cannot afford for that Kekkai Genkai to fall into enemy hands. We have begun preparations for an extraction. It will be ready to leave by tomorrow."

Hiashi was seething. How could the village fail him. How could the village more importantly fail Hiroaki, who he loved as a son. "Who is being sent on this mission?"

"Only the very best for your precious _Clan_." Orochimaru rose from the floor and have a wide smirk.

"Orochimaru is the only shinobi in Konoha capable of doing a mission deep in enemy lines." Hiruzen spoke to the room.

"Why would you agree to go _Orochimaru?"_ Hiashi said.

"Kukukuku, no faith in me, Hiashi-kun? I'm hurt that you would even need to ask." Orochimaru have another sickly grin. "Hiro-kun is too valuable to the village. We need to retrieve him. At all cost." Orochimaru licked his lips and smiled.

"Hizashi-San, we will return your son." Koharu spoke to the quiet Hyūga.

Hizashi turned and looked at her. "He is my nephew as well. He is Haru-Chan's son."

Danzō took this opportunity to speak up. "If we may inquire. Who is the boy's father?"

Hiashi and Hizashi looked at each other for a moment. They set their gaze upon a clearly interested room. "It is a Clan secret." Hiashi responded.

"Secret? I take it then, that the boy's father is not another Hyuga, correct?" Danzo responded in the second of silence that had followed.

Hiashi stared at the council. Pulling out the pack of papers fromhis robes, he handed them to the Hokage.

The hokage read the papers in silence and and looked up at the Hyuga Head. " Are you sure? You know how this will look to the rest of the Shinobi families right?"

"The council does not care. They have always undermined efforts to help Hiroaki. All I can hope for is that the council does not push to have him branded. Also, if I could ask something of you Hokage-sama?"

"Ask." the Hokage replied with a stern voice.

"If you could hand this scroll to him if he does arrive back." Hiashi handed the Hokage a massive sealing scroll. "It will only open to his chakra." Hiashi walked out of the room.

The hokage handed his advisors the papers and let them read what he was handed.

"He will be destined to a destitue life without any proper help, Hiruzen. We need to take action." Koharu said.

"She's right, Hiruzen. He has a Kekkai Genkai. He should not be left out on the street. Let me take him in to Root. There we can give him the care and attention a genius of his caliber needs." Danzō replied.

"No. He shouldn't be put into ANBU. He had a home before. He still has family." Hiruzen replied.

Danzō looked at Orochimaru and made a small gesture that only he could see. "Orochimaru has been looking for an apprentice, correct?" Hiruzen nodded in Orochimaru's stead.

"Why not have Orochimaru take responsibility for the boy? By all accounts of the Academy, he is a Genius among the very gifted of Konoha students. With proper training and nurturing we can guide him to become as talented as Sakumo's son." Homura suggested.

"We still need to retrieve, Hiroaki-San. The decision to take him as an apprentice would be up to you, should you retrieve him." Hiruzen said aloud.

Orochimaru looked at Danzo, and saw the nod. "Kukukuku, I'll have to give Hiro-kun a test before I decide to take him."

The meeting continued for a few more minutes going over details of the rescue mission. As everyone began to leave only Danzo and Orochimaru stayed behind. Pulling out a small scroll he handed it to Orochimaru.

"He was captured apart of Roots Spy Ring. They should have been transported to Their interrogation outpost. Our informant has not reported in months. Only bring the boy back if it's necessary.

 **A/N: Apologies to everyone who has been waiting for an update! I have been incredibly busy with finals and moving out of my dorm. I have been writing this chapter since the second chapter. Through multiple rewrites I decided I liked this version the best. I will try to update by Wednesday. I have written half of the next chapter! Next update will refocus on Hiro's battle. As boring as this chapter felt to me, It was necessary to setup the plot points and circumstances for the next phase of this story which will cover the end of the war and the beginning of the next Hokage ascending into power. I had mentioned early on that I wanted to finish this story close to 20kish words of content. After reviewing my Sagas I had planned, I've decided to continue writing at least to where the show originally began. With how much timeline I'm covering per update I think this story will be pushing 100k words. With my break from school starting I should be able to update at least once a week.**

 **Question: Should I write more per each update? I have been seeing that I usually can fit in 1-2k words per update but I can push them out much faster. Or should I write more per update like my first chapter but that would mean I'd update it maybe once every month?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Roar of a Monster**

 **Last Time:** Even with Orochimaru being injured and near chakra exhaustion he was still moving like a blur. The other Jōnin could barely match his speed or prowess. Then I noticed what was happening. The Jōnin was slowly being pushed back.

He was slowly losing ground directly to a place laced with bits of chakra. The Iwa Jōnin was planning on taking Orochimaru out at all cost!

As I started to try and warn him I stopped myself. " _This is Orochimaru. He causes the death of thousands of people. Should I save him? Why did I come back in the first place? Except, he has saved my life too many times to count this night. How can I just let him die? Can I let him die?_

The perpetual roar of the land was out done by the clangs and clashes of battle. Distant blurs sped toward one another and collided to many times to count. One brownish blur slowly losing ground in the desolate fields torn up by the perpetual wars fought across the land.

One small figure stood up in the maelstrom of the battle. Silently watching. Silently debating his inner turmoil. Barely peaking at 4 feet, the small figure leaned in on the blade he wielded. The battle still raged in front of him, the rain still pelted the ground.

The young boy stood motionless for what seemed to be ages. The water seemed to slowly glide toward the muddy battleground. The blurs became more recognizable but still too fast to accurately tell what they were doing. The boy stood before this all and made his choice.

He began moving faster than he ever could before. The boy seemed to poof out of existence only to reappear a few meters behind the Iwa Shinobi. The boy settled into his signature stance. Two exact copies of the boy appeared to his left.

When the Iwa shinobi finally landed back into the ground, the boy launched into action. With less than a second passed by before the Iwa shinobi turned around. That was the first mistake of three, the Jōnin did that sealed his fate. The shinobi moved to engage the young boy in a bout of Taijutsu. That was his second mistake.

Confronting a Hyūga in a Taijutsu battle without a trump card was almost certain death. The Jōnin moved to block the strikes the small boy made. The young boy was not nearly fast enough to get past the Jōnin's guard. That wasn't his goal however.

As the three copies began to reach the apex of strike, the Jōnin only moved to block the center figure. That was the third mistake. The boy smiles and yelled.

" **Hakke Sanjūni Sho!"** (Eight trigrams: 32 palms.)

"Two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two!"

The young boy had effectively stunned the Jōnin. The boy was grinning madly. He couldn't believe it had actually worked! Before the Hyūga could continue celebrating, he saw the ninja in front of him try and lunge at him.

The Iwa Jōnin suddenly jerked, and stopped moving. The shinobi coughed up blood, and looked down. Hiro didn't need to look down. He saw it clearer than day. Instincts had prevailed yet again.

Hiro's Tanto was embedded six inches into the Iwa's chest. Horror overcame the young Hyūga. It was his first real kill. The first of whom knew how many he would be forced to slay in combat. His hand jerked back and dropped the Tanto.

He fell to his knees and began to heave up the contents of his stomach. He had seen many die that night. He had even caused the death of shinobi that day. Except, he was directly responsible for this death. He was the one that ended this life.

He didn't last long on the floor however. He was grabbed by his arm and brought upright. He was staring at the hideous grin of his _savior._ The glowing-slitted green eyes stared directly into Hiro's soul.

The snake began speaking but the boy could not hear. The boy was in his own world lost in a sea of guilt and regret. The boy could only stare at the bloodied man in front of him.

Orochimaru reached up and grabbed his black Hitai-ite. Orochimaru looked at the blood soaked cloth and began to wrap it around Hiro's forehead. The rain made the blood run down his face.

"I, Orochimaru, Sannin of Konohagakure, deliver this Hitai-ite and its responsibilities on you. I pronounce you, Hiroaki Hyūga, a Genin of Konohagakure." Orochimaru smirked and ruffled through the boy's hair.

"We need to leave. It's only a matter of time before other shinobi come." He turned away from the boy who was still blankly staring at him.

The words didn't seem to register to the boy. His body moved on its own and continued to follow the man up ahead. The blood ran down his face. The boy never moved once to wipe it away from his face.

" _What Have I Done."_ Was the thought that continued to echo in the boy's mind. There was an inner battle raging inside him. His old self clinging on pulsing out how wrong it was to take a life. The other justifying the death for their own life.

 **7:37 A.M**

The rain began to slowly lessen and lessen as the two weary shinobi made their way through the land. After hours of walking, the sun began to peek through the clouds. Sunlight pierced the clouds and descended on the earth.

The boy looked up at the sky. " _So_ the _world continues...Did my family continue their life after my death?"_ Sadness. It was sadness and guilt that overcame him. Settling in the pit of his stomach. He had not thought of how his family must have been after he died.

Trying to remember his family, they were just a distant memory. He wondered if they had ever even existed. Was he just insane? No one else in this world could possible understand him. That train of thought is what fueled his sadness and guilt.

He had forgotten about them. He had neglected to think of them because he was trying to settle in this world. How were they dealing with his death? How were they? Why hasn't he thought of them?

Then he realized it was this world. He had struggled for everything so far. He had put in hard work and hope into getting better. Except, this world continued to take from him. He had fought with everything he had to get as far as he did.

What did the world give him in return? He was captured in his very first excursion out of the village. He was tortured for days and days at a time. He was forced to run like a coward. He was forced to watch as a monster slaughtered dozens of men for him.

Dozens upon dozens of men and women would never get to see their loved ones because of him. But he didn't feel sadness for them. In earnest he felt a fire raging in his heart. His sadness and guilt lot the fire for his rage.

He wouldn't get to see his family either! The world had taken him from them! This world would continue to try and pry everything away from him. No more! He wouldn't lie down as the world had its way! No. He would become powerful. Powerful enough that no one could take anything from him.

 **10:25 A.M**

 **Border of Hi no Kuni**

Three Konoha shinobi, stood hidden in the trees overlooking the western border with Amegakure. One with binoculars spots two staggering figures in the distant clearing slowly approaching.

"Shinobi!"

The yell rang out in the forest.

"2 of them! Badly injured."

Two shinobi jumped down and positioned themselves in the path of the 2 shinobi.

The two shinobi recognized the tall figure immediately.

"It's Orochimaru-sama! Get the Medic!" One of the shinobi yelled to the others in the forest.

In a big commotion, one shinobi sped off toward the two injured shinobi while another went to get help.

 **Hiro's P.O.V**

Hiro had barely been able to walk after hours without rest or supplies. Using his Tanto to help keep him up was a must. He had been limping for the past several hours right behind Orochimaru.

What made things worse was the thirst. Burning his throat, Hiro could barely even speak let alone fight. " _This is worse than torture.. At least they gave me water."_

It had only been around an hour ago that Orochimaru stopped being able to walk by himself. It seemed the chakra exhaustion had taken a bigger toll on him. He had been leaning more and more on Hiro as they walked.

What has bugged Hiro the most was the sudden lack of rain. It was as if Kami himself had stopped the rain from falling on them. As to punish Hiro even more.

Orochimaru looked up ahead and spotted the Konoha-nin. "After all we have been through, you better not fuck this up." That was all he said as he collapsed to the floor, taking me down with him.

I couldn't get up anymore. Any small strength I had left me that moment. I just stared up at the clouds in the sky. After a few moments a shadow fell over me.

I was staring up at a brown haired man. He looked at me and began speaking. I couldn't seem to make out what he was saying. I remembered what Orochimaru had told me earlier that day.

"C-od *Cough* Code 3"

Alarm immediately settled into the shinobi, before I felt him grab me. He began yelling something to the rest of his group. That was all I remembered before the world went black.

 **A/N: Here is the next update. Rewrote it a few times to make it flow smoother.**

 **Question:**

 **Does anyone dislike the way I switch from POV's?**


	7. Ch7 Birth of a Monster

**Birth of a Monster**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Kishimoto does.**

"Hurry! Condition is stable but… Chakra is too low…" I pushed my eyes open and saw green blur in front of me. My eyes forced themselves to close again. The voices returned. I couldn't make out what they were saying but each time they would speak it would get fainter and fainter.

The darkness came once again and took me from consciousness. What came from the darkness terrified me. Nothing good ever comes from darkness.

 **2 Days Later**

 **Hyuuga Compound.**

A messenger hawk dropped in from the sky and delivered its contents to a very impatient Hiashi Hyūga. Restless pacing back and forth, Hiashi had grown more and more worried. Only 2 days earlier, the village had spotted a return team blow through the gates.

The team had been carrying a very injured Orochimaru, and in tow was a small cart that had been covered up. Rumors had been circulating around the village that Orochimaru had single handedly rescued The Hyūga Prince.

Rumors say that Hiro, had died in battle. Other rumors, mention that Hiro had lost a limb. They only fueled, the despair in Hiashi. Word from the Hokage's office had forbade Hiashi from seeing Hiro in the hospital, until the Hokage allowed him too.

Hiashi opened the letter and exhaled in relief. The letter mentioned that Hiro, was going to be okay. Hiashi decided to walk back into his office before he was stopped by a winded Hizashi.

"What's wrong Hizashi?!" A now repanicked Hiashi exclaimed.

Hizashi pulled out a small black book and gave it to Hiashi. Opening to the creased page, Hiashi couldn't believe what he was reading.

 **Hiroaki Hyuuga**

 **Affiliation: Konohagakure**

 **Age: 6-7?**

 **Height: 4 ft**

 **Weight:?**

 **Jōnin-sensei: ?**

 **Bloodline: Byakugan**

 **Wanted: Massacre of Academy Class. Over 30 students and 2 Chunin instructors, and 1 Tokubetsu Jōnin were confirmed. Orchestrated attack on Village, and connected to Densetsu no Sannin, Orochimaru.**

 **Bounty: 15 million ryō**

 ***Only Engage if Alone***

Hiashi dropped to his knees. "No. That can't be! Hiro wouldn't do such a thing!" Hizashi went and picked up Hiashi from the floor.

"The Office of the Sandaime, has called a council meeting brother. You need to ask him if this is true."

Hiashi could barely contain the grief building up inside him. Shakily getting up, he made his way out of the compound.

 **Day 1**

I awoke what must have been at least a few hours later. I knew something was wrong when I found myself unable to move my body again. " _*sigh* I've been captured again..?"_ I opened my eyes to find myself in a pitch black room.

I struggle to move again before a man steps forth from the shadow. A single light shines from the ceiling down on to him. Only an X shape scar on his chin is visible.

"Ah, Hiro-San, you're finally awake. We were wondering when you would wake up." The man got closer and pulled out a kunai. He cut the ropes binding me to the bed. "Do not worry, child. I mean you no harm. You are safely back in Konoha."

I stared at the man before it finally hit me. "Danzo…?" Was the only word I could get out.

"Ah, so you know who I am?" Danzo walked to the side of the bed and sat down on a chair.

I began to feel queasy. For two days in a row, I had been in the grasps of two _monsters._ I began to breathe hard. "Y-es. Orochimaru-sama, told me you would be the only one I could give the scroll too." I sputtered out all to nervously.

"Yes. That is true my child. Do not be nervous" Danzo chuckled. " I have retrieved the scroll already. As it turns out. You could have very well have saved our village Hiro-san."

Danzo stood up and retrieved a small letter. He hesitated a moment and turned back to me. "Do you love this village Hiroaki?" He looked at me searchingly.

" _Oh Kami! Why!? Please don't ask me anything!"_ I began to reply, "More than my own life, Danzo-sama." I was silently panicking inside. Only my famous Hyūga mask was showing.

Danzō smiled. "Would you be willing to do anything to ensure the safety of Konoha?"

" _Oh crap! What do I say!"_ On the outside it took me a few seconds before my body responded. "Yes." I mentally screamed out for making such a response.

Danzō's smile grew. "Join my Ne forces. We are the primary defense for the village. Someone as loyal and as gifted as you would thrive in our environment. The regular forces will not suite you. No one would be able to teach you anything. They would assign you to pointless and wasteful assignments.

" _Join Ne… That's one way of getting access to training. Except they get brainwashed. Don't they.?"_ I stayed quiet for a few more seconds. "I do not think, Hiashi-kun would allow me to join."

Danzō stood. His smile began to shrink. "Think it over, Hiroaki-San." Danzo handed me the letter and began to walk out. "You might want to.. Rethink recent events before we allow you to..Go home." Danzo walked out.

Only anger started to rise in me when I finished reading the letter. Konoha was having me take responsibility of a so-called "Massacre" done in an Iwa Academy Class. They were also rewriting what happened! Everything has already been written out!

They went as far as to cover tracks of the Iwa nin pushing as far they did in Hi no Kuni. Saying it was Nuke-nin that had ambushed us. This also decides to mention that I was already a Genin of Konoha!

Infuriated, I crumbled up the paper and threw it as far as I could. Pain shot through my arms and legs. My body might have been healed but by Kami sake was it crippled by agonizing amounts of soreness. I begin to look around and see that I'm in a hospital room.

" _This room doesn't look so scary now."_ Getting up, I walk over and pull the curtain open. " _Nighttime. I wonder what's going on the Hyūga compound today. Oh KAMI! Hiashi is going to kill me! Then Hizashi will kill me again!"_

I walked back to the bed. I noticed a black hitai-ite on the nightstand. Anger began to well up inside me. " _So this is how they promote me! Even after everything I went through! They don't even have the decency to give me a ceremony or even a Kami-damn test!"_

I went and picked up the hitai-ite and noticed how worn out and bloody the headband looked. " _Why would they give me an old headband?"_ In an instant I was taken back to that morning. Seeing Orochimaru, undo his Hitai-ite and ascend me to genin. "Why.."

Any anger I held had dissipated. I held the hitai-ite and went to get dressed. Sitting on a chair was an all-black shinobi outfit. I approached and saw a note. _**"Seek me out when you awaken.-Orochimaru."**_

I looked over the gear he left and noticed that no shuriken, kunai, nor the Tanto were there. It only had the room number he was in the hospital. "Why would you leave me the clothes but not any of the gear?" Confused I began to put on the black sleeveless undershirt. I slid inside the black pants.

On the chair were black hand wraps. Taking them I put them on to just below the elbow on each arm. I took the black cape on the chair and put it on. Lastly, I rinsed the blood off the Hitai-ite and wrapped it on my forehead.

I sighed when I realized I had nothing to wrap my long brownish-auburn hair. Looking into the mirror I sighed. " _This isn't me. This isn't my face."_ I turned away from the mirror and walked out of the room.

Hiro exited the door and immediately ran into two ANBU guards. They went and blocked my path. "You cannot leave."

"I'm just going to another room. Orders of Orochimaru." I show them the note. The one on the left looked at the note. He nodded and they both began walking toward the room at the end of the hall. I simply followed them.

They opened the door and I walked through before they closed it again. I looked around and found him sitting up in the hospital bed. He was staying out of the window. Bandages strung all over his body and held up his left arm.

I looked at him and tried to compare it to what I knew of him from the show. "You wanted to see me?" I said to the man in front of me.

"Why didn't you leave. Everyone and anyone else would have left. So. Why did _you_ stay?" He asked in a very serious tone.

"You saved my life. More than I can count. I couldn't just let you sacrifice yourself for me." I replied as honestly as I could. "I think Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-hime would have stayed for you." Sensing the still dark mood, I tried to say it in a comforting way.

Orochimaru gave a bitter chuckle. He rose up from the bed and looked at me with his glowing eyes. "Where are they now?" He stared at me for a few seconds and turned back to look out the window.

" _He feels..alone?"_ I walked forward and stared out the window with him.

"What are you planning on doing now?"

I stared out and continued thinking. "Go home. Hiashi must be livid."

"Kukukuku. They didn't tell you." He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

"Tell me what..?" I began to think the worst. _"Had Hiashi gone to get me? Had he gotten himself killed?!"_ Panic was rising in me again. I turned and looked at him.

"They've removed you from the Hyūga clan. They refused to send anyone out to look for you. They left your things to the Hokage." Orochimaru stepped away and continued talking, "They've abandoned you. As soon as they heard word you were captured, they had already submitted the paperwork."

Hiro stood there motionless. Still registering what he had heard. His face looked as unemotional as ever. Hiro slowly began to look downward.

A small chuckle could be heard. Every second the chuckle grew louder and harder until it grew to full burst of laughter. The young boy had finally snapped. He fell to the floor laughing as hard as he could. Tears began to form on the corners of his eyes.

The laughter began to quiet down, but the tears only flowed more. The laughter had turned into crying. The boy cried and cried. Harder than he had ever cried before. The boy now realized that he was alone. Alone in a foreign world that he wanted nothing to do with. Hiro was truly and utterly alone.

 **A/N: Hello! First thing I'll address here is if people believe that Orochimaru is acting OOC. I personally believe that he is a lot deeper of a character than most people are willing to look into. Orochimaru has basically been abandoned by almost everyone since a very early age. Even those who stood close by to him didn't necessarily believe in him or give him any real support. Hiruzen didn't even really back him in anything. I also believe he had been used for his power until he slowly began his descent into madness which really began when he lost his parents. He tried getting his immortality because of the wars that inevitably traumatized him and the countless death he saw. Jiraiya and tsunade did abandon him. Danzō used him for his own gains. Hiruzen didn't try to help, he just looked the other way. I think the last straw into Orochimaru's fall was not being selected to be Hokage. That's where Orochimaru began doing his experiments and other "interests". So in this story hasn't progressed to the point where Orochimaru has full lost himself.**

 **Leave your feedback and questions! Enjoy!**

 **Question: What do you think will happen in the big council meeting?**


	8. Ch8 Fate?

**Fate?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

The world slowed down for the young boy. His body hurt. His heart ached. His mind was blank. It had been 2 hours since the revelation. The boy was still stretched across the floor.

The glowing eyes still stared down at him from the window. Silently waiting for the boy to come back to life.

The boy had stopped crying about an hour ago. All he did now was silently stare up at the ceiling. The inferno in his heart began to bubble up the rage silently growing in his heart.

This world had again taken away something from him. The only thing that had remained stable so far in this world had been yanked from him. He had been stripped of his name. Of the little family he still had.

He mourned the loss of what he could not have. The change that he could not bring to the Hyūga. The rage grew as he began to analyze what Orochimaru had told him. They already had the papers ready. They were waiting for any excuse to get rid of him.

Hiashi had seen him as a burden. The council hated him. The Hyūga as a whole avoided him. His entire life here he had been a pariah. Through everything he had found a way to survive. He had clawed his way to all of what he had.

He had survived torture. Attack after attack. He had failed more times than he could count. But he had survived. Only to be thrown out. To be cast aside.

Hiro clutched his chest. The burning in his heart only grew. The pain didn't leave him. He knew it never would.

"What do you feel boy?"

"I'm angry!"

"Why?"

"They threw me away like garbage!"

Hiro grew angrier and angrier. "I will show them. Show them how wrong they are about me" Hiroaki had began to draw blood from his hands.

Orochimaru smiled, revealing his wicked teeth.

"Oh? And how will you do that boy?"

Hiro looked at Orochimaru. Then looked away. "I don't know. Danzō. Danzō wants me to join root. He said that it would be a good place for me."

Orochimaru laughed. "You will only be as strong as Danzō allows you to be. You will only be a pawn in his game."

In anger Hiro punched the window and shattered it. Cutting his left arm in the process.

"What do you want?"

"I want power! I want to be more powerful than any of them! I don't want to just be a pawn."

Orochimaru smiled. "True power is forged from the desire smoldering in the heart, it fans into a flame and begins to burn with an intensity one scarcely imagines to be possible. I'll show you your true power. But you have to show me your fire."

Hiro looked incredulously at the man before him "Why would you help me?"

"Like you, I had lost everything I held dear in an instance. I thought of anger, hatred, and revenge. This darkness pollutes the world around us. Slowly suffocating our light. Only through my guidance can you come out stronger than you ever were before."

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Before**

 **Full Council Meeting**

* * *

I walked from the door and meet with Orochimaru in the Hallway.

"Did you read the 'Mission Brief'?"

"Yes, Sensei."

"Don't embarrass us."

With that Orochimaru and the ANBU guard began walking out of the hospital.

We had walked back out to a sizable crowd forming outside the hospital. As soon as they saw us the screams began. Bingo Books from various countries had been updated in the last couple of days. So news and rumors hit the civilians within mere hours of the release of the small black books.

The civilians screamed out our praise and blessings as we made our way through the crowded Konoha streets. Danzō and the elder council had deemed fit that we should be paraded around to 'boost morale'.

Chants had picked up calling for their 'Sannin' to be the next Hokage. Every once in awhile I heard a few yell out for their Hyūga Prince to be safe.

After a hellish 15 minutes we had arrived at the Hokage tower.

Walking up the stairs I began to grow more and more nervous. I couldn't help but begin to grow anxious about the lies that I would have to tell. Orochimaru had to explain to me that, "These lies weren't meant for us. They were there to throw off any talks of our spies in enemy lands."

That meant I had to go into detail about a massacre I had nothing to do with. That made me sick to the stomach.

We arrived outside the double doors leading to the meeting chambers. Orochimaru stood behind me, and pushed me forward. The doors opened revealing the massive table and the Heads of all the major Shinobi Clans. The civilian council had also been allowed to assembly in hopes to spread more of our propaganda.

By the looks of the table, we were the last two to arrive.

As I looked around the table any nervousness I had vanished. As soon as I spotted _him._ I pretended that I hadn't noticed _him._ I made my way and bowed before the Sandaime.

I took my seat near the elders and awaited for this meeting to officially begin.

After an hour of being in the meeting, I had regretted not dying. I had not even been allowed to speak. It was Hiruzen who was reading the mission briefing. So when it finally came down to get specifics on what happened during our "siege" it was Orochimaru that had been allowed to speak.

I noticed the more and more that Orochimaru droned on about our assault and escape from outpost to outpost, Hiashi had not stopped staring at me. Orochimaru had played up how much help I had been. Concocting lies about my selflessness, and ferocity for my 'young age'.

Orochimaru had made it to the part where we had crossed the Ame border when, Fugaku interrupted.

"Are we supposed to believe that this mere _Hyuuga gaki,_ was capable of doing such things?!" The murmurs began to grow on the civilians side of the table. I instantly felt all of the eyes fall on me.

Before I could speak, Danzō pulled out the small bingo book and tossed it into the middle of the council table. "Everyone received this for a reason, Fugaku-San. It's not for mere decoration."

The murmurs around the table began to grow and few began to pull out the small book. After a few moments, a gasp was heard from the civilian section.

Hiashi didn't move to get his book. Instead he broke off his continued stare and glanced down.

"But a _mere Genin_ , couldn't have done this by himself?" A nameless civilian asked.

"I saw him fighting first hand. He is far from a _mere Genin._ He is a once in a generation genius. He is faster, stronger, quick witted in battle." Orochimaru said with praise in his voice.

"If it weren't for his last efforts, we both wouldn't have made it back with the… War ending information."

The murmurs grew into a quiet roar. More people continued to look at my directions and began whispering among each other. All I could do was continue to stare down at my feet.

I felt a hand land on my shoulder and noticed Orochimaru had moved behind me. "I assure you, Uchiha-sama, my apprentice is more than capable of those feats in battle.

I looked up and caught the anger look in Hiashi's eyes.

The Nara clan head spoke up. "What information did you bring back?"

The Sandaime spoke up. "The civilian council is required to leave. This part of the meeting is adjourned." Orochimaru tapped my arm indicating it was time for me to leave. I got up and gave a bow to the Hokage before I began to leave.

"Hiro-san, please wait in my office." The Sandaime commanded.

I nod and left.

I walked into the Hokage's office and sat down. I looked around and noticed a pair of kunai on the table. The pictures on the wall were of the previous Hokage. " _I wonder why he would want to talk to me about anything. Maybe he would take my promotion away? Will he bring me up on charges?"_

The more and more I thought on it the more nervous I became. I began to get angry just thinking about the nerve that Hiashi had. He just stared at me the entire time.

I felt the anger begin building up and I sat down to mediate. The flow of my chakra resembled my emotions and we're trying to lash out around me.

* **CLANG!***

I opened my eyes and saw the kunai had fallen on the floor. " _Wind."_

I closed my eyes again and built up my chakra again. I tried to meditate. I tried to concentrate and make my chakra flow through more peacefully.

The world began to open itself up for a brief second and then shut itself off from almost instantly. It was like a switch I opened up my eyes and I was sweating profusely. I looked up at the clock and more than forty minutes had passed.

The hokage was silently sitting in his chair with a pipe in his hand. "So, I see you have returned to us."

"Us?" I asked confused.

"It's good to see you again." Hizashi said behind me.

A plethora of emotions ran through me. Leaving me significantly confused in what I should feel. But anger began to dominate everything else. "How dare you come see me here!" I balled up my hands into fist. I looked at the floor and saw the kunai from earlier had somehow gotten closer.

"Now, Hiro-kun. I know you're angry, but you have to see that Hiashi-kun had no choice. The council went behind his back."

I looked back up at him with renewed anger.

"Had no choice?! Is that what my life is to you people?"

"We love you. You have always been like a son to me. You know that we have always done the best things for you. But you're just a child. One day you'll understand."

"All I know is that I was 'just a child' when I was thrown into training for the war. I was 'just a child' when everyone at the compound refused to even acknowledge my existence. I was 'just a child' when I surpassed everything that you two begrudgingly gave me. I was 'just a child' When I finally went to the war that you prepared me for. I was 'just a child' when I was forced to fight for my life and my comrades life. I was 'just a child' when they captured me. I was 'just a child' when they tortured me for information on our clan. I was 'just a child' when I took the lives of the people who imprisoned me." Tears began to gather.

"I was 'just a child' when I lost my family."

Before anyone could say anything more, the Hokage interrupted.

"Hizashi, tell him what you came here for."

Hizashi glanced at the Sandaime and nodded.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small scroll. He did a few hand signs and the seal on the scroll began to glow. After a few seconds passed the glow dimmed. * **poof***

In the center of the scroll, laid a small black sheath with a golden tip, and Hyūga crest in the middle. The Tanto inside had small black handle with a golden crest on it as well. Hizashi grabbed it and pulled the blade out. The blade was made of pure gold.

He inspected it and put it back in the sheath. He then handed it to me. "Your mother wanted you to have her Tantō. It was a gift from your father." Hizashi smiled and stood up. "Please take care of yourself Hiro-kun. It might seem like a curse now, but you control your fate now."

Hizashi bowed and left out of the doors.

I stared at the blade in my hand. Only thinking of what he had said… "My… father..?"

 **A/N: Welcome back! I wanted to put up this chapter up quicker than my last release. I had most of this written out but decided to cut it out of last chapter for its own instead.**

 **Answering Rachnis: I didn't necessarily think I had to explain why the clan wanted to have Hiro out of the clan, but if there is some confusion I'll be happy to clear it up. First things first. Hiroaki is NOT a full blood Hyūga. That's why Hiro, hasn't really been able to call on his byakugan at will. I don't think I necessarily made it too obscure that he wasn't a full Hyūga. Second, my reasoning for them having him removed is because at that time, only Hiroaki is the main heir to the line. His mother was Hiashi's sister and Hiashi had not had Hinata yet. So to the council, it is much more important for them to not have it be a possibility of a bastard, to one day be in charge of the Clan. I had also originally left subtle clues on to who his father was but decided to remove them for not really making too much sense. But! In the last few chapters there are subtle hints that lead to his father. The guy is not too obscure and will play a big role later on.**

 **Also for other readers who had not picked it up or simply forgotten about it there is more to what's happening than what I'm simply telling from Hiro's point of view. Not everything that's happening is just by chance! I'm almost certain that most readers have not picked up on the subtle clues. ;P.**

 **If you have any questions just ask and in the next update I'll try to answer them.**

 **Question: Comment if you think you know who the father might be. If anyone manages to guess it correctly, the next update will be twice as long as a reward**.


	9. Ch9 Ripple's of War

**Ripple's of War**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I own the OC's.

I sat there for awhile just staring at the blade in my hands. I looked over every small detail.

"Hiroaki-san, I don't mean to interrupt but we have things to discuss."

I looked over at the Sandaime and really took him for the first time since I had arrived. " _Even now he looks old and tired.."_

"What did you wish to talk about Hokage-Sama?" I asked, still replaying everything that had happened.

"I wanted to personally thank you for bringing the information that you did. Konoha is eternally grateful for your sacrifices."

I looked down. "Any shinobi would have done the same Hokage-sama."

"It is a high honor that Orochimaru decided to finally take on an apprentice. He was around your age when I took him and the other Sannin as my students." Hiruzen smiled.

The Hokage puffed out smoke. "How are you doing, Hiro?"

"I'll be okay." I looked at the blade in my hands.

"As a Genin of Konoha, you are technically considered an Adult. That means you don't have to bend to the will of anyone except your shinobi superiors. Do you have a place to stay?

"No."

"Why don't you come with me tonight. A few people will be coming over tonight to my compound. You can stay at the Sarutobi compound until we can arrange better sleeping arrangements."

I looked at the Sandaime, studying his face. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

The old man smiled. He got up and picked up a scroll next to his desk. He walked over and placed it next to me. "Your hand"

I put my hand forward, and he cut my palm. The blood began to dribble and he placed it on the scroll. The scroll glowed and opened the small lock it had on it.

"Your uncle got these things for you as well. Open the scroll somewhere when you're alone. For now, your time is your own. Come back to the tower at sunset." The Hokage ruffled my hair and went back to sit down.

 **An hour**

Hiroaki found himself on top of the Hokage mountain, staring out over Konoha. " _I can see why Naruto loves this view."_ He sat there quietly watching as the citizens and fellow shinobi went about their day. Hiroaki stood up and grabbed the scroll that had been behind him and he jumped off to go to his favorite training place.

After awhile he arrived and sat in the small clearing. He unpacked the scroll and opened it. Sending chakra through the scroll, it faintly lit up and *POOF*. 4 smaller scrolls appeared in front of him, along with a note.

 _You will always be a Hyuga. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.-Hiashi_

 _The small scrolls contain your clothes, various shinobi equipments, the rest of the Main Branch Hyuuga training, and Ninjutsu training._

The rest of the scroll contained information to a personal bank account Hiashi and Hiro's mother had started in his name.

Hiro looked at the things in front of him and the tears began to leak out again.

Hiro was beginning to put back the scrolls when he noticed one last piece of paper. He looked at it and picked it up. The piece of paper seemed to be blank until he noticed that the paper seemed to be covered in what seemed to be gold dust. Adding chakra to the paper the words began to appear.

Hiro read it over and over again for what seemed to be hours. The letter was a rather simple thing. It was a letter from a man named Rasa. It was addressed to his uncle Hiashi talking about the death of his mother at the hands of an Iwa ambush.

Hiro had never been told how or when his mother had died. He was simply told that his mother had passed away on a mission. He was required to visit the grave after the funeral had been held.

Hiro finally resealed the scrolls and letters away and that's when he noticed someone staring at him from a tree. The small figure dropped from the tree and approached him. " Is it true?" the small boy said.

"Is what true?"

"The rumors everyone is talking about. That you killed all of those children."

"They tortured me for days, Itachi. They healed me for days. They made me stay awake for the entire time. They were going to kill me. Kill us. Your family. Your friends. They wanted to kill more of us Itachi."

"Your welcomed at the Uchiha Compound. Father has told me to find you and invite you for dinner tomorrow night. You're not alone, Hiro-kun." Itachi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

 **Sunset**

Hiro was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in an effort to get away from the countless number of people trying to talk to him.

"HEY SLOW DOWN!" a shrill voice came from behind him.

Hiro instantly recognized who it was and slowed down immediately. "Hello, Anko-san. Its nice to that you aren't injured."

Anko kept speeding toward him and tackled him to the ground with a massive hug. "I HEARD WHAT HAPPENED! WE WERE SO WORRIED THAT YOU HAD HAD DIED! WHEN WE HEARD THAT YOU HAD CAME BACK TO THE VILLAGE WE WERE SO RELIEVED BUT WHEN YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR CLASS THE NEXT DAY WE THOUGHT THE WORST HAD HAPPENED!"

Hiro was still on the floor hurting from the steep fall.

Anko quickly got up pulling up, Hiro in the process.

Anko finally spotted the Hitai-ite on the floor. Hiro saw it on the floor and picked it up. He wrapped it around his forehead. "Holy shit! You're a genin now!?"

Hiro looked at her with something resembling confusion. "Yes." He began walking away from the loud mouthed purple headed banshee.

Anko ran along behind him and continued to pester him. "How?! Kenta and I didn't receive any promotion!"

Hiro looked at her and anger flashed for a moment. His step hesitated for a brief second. "You haven't heard. Go ask people. Everyone can't seem to stop talking about it." Without another second wasted, Hiro poofed out of place and disappeared.

A few seconds later the seemingly slow Kenta landed breathing hard. "Wh-y did he leave?" He asked huffing out long breaths.

"Not sure."

Hiro stood on top of the Hokage Tower silently waiting for the Hokage to come out of his office. He didn't know what to do. He seemed lost and a feeling of dread began to resonate in him. Had his chances in this world been ruined because he didn't slow down enough? From early on in this life he hadn't bothered to hide his "genius", he had pushed and pushed constantly for more than they would give him. He had been bored with not much to do in this world.

With chakra as an added bonus he found himself able to think quicker and more focused than he had before. Now, Hiro had pushed too far. He had isolated himself even more from the clan, he put himself in the war he had wanted to avoid, and now he found himself in the clutches of some of the more dangerous people in this universe.

And for what had he done it for? He had been bored suling around with the other children. He wanted to learn more and be more than he was. He exposed himself in a very dangerous time in the shinobi timeline. He had made himself an instant enemy to an entire nation for the rest of his life.

Hiro had grown tired of waiting outside and decided to make his way into the Hokage's office. He leapt down and went inside the massive doors. A blast of cool air hit him as he went inside. After he climbed a few stairs he finally reached the office. Not seeing the secretary outside he went in and knocked out the door.

After a few moments he heard a bellowing voice telling him to come in.

The hokage's day had been excruciatingly long this particular day. After being in meetings the entire day he just wanted to sit down and read his favorite little orange book.

He heard a knock on his door and he told them to come in. The person walked in slowly and went forward.

"Ah, sorry Hokage-sama. You wanted to see me?" the tall blonde man asked.

"Yes, Minato-kun come in, sit down."

Minato went and took a seat in one of the chairs.

"I'm sure by now you have heard of what to come correct?"

Minato nodded.

"I want you to lead the forces when we launch the ambush."

Minato looked surprised and put a hand on the back of his head. " I won't let you down hokage-sama. But, If I may ask, why me?"

Hiruzen gave a small chuckle. "You are an exceptional shinobi. The strongest, Konoha has to offer. The Will of FIre burns brightly in you boy. No one else is qualified to lead this expedition."

"What about Orochimaru-san?"

"He was injured in his attack and retrieval of the info."

Before he could say anything more, a knock was heard at the door.

"Ah, my apologies Minato-kun. I'm expecting company. Come in!"

I opened the door and instantly froze. I hadn't expected to see him. The Yellow Flash of Konoha.

He just stared at me and flashed me a smile before he went on his way.

The Hokage came up to me and ruffled my hair. He lead me further inside and then went to gather a few things before we left.

The night had gone rather quick. The Sarutobi compound was rather large and had many people walking about at night. The hokage was revered here. Everyone stopped and came to him to pay their respects and to meet me.

Once inside his house, I meet his wife, Biwako. A very nice lady. She seemed like a very caring old woman. She was polite as a person could be. We sat down to eat and Hiruzen asked me numerous amounts of questions about me and my opinion on the state of things. After dinner, Biwako excused herself and Hiruzen invited me into his den.

He sat down and for the first time of the night I really saw how tense he always seemed to be. No doubt of the constant worry of his village being at war brought on many negative effects to his person. " Please sit down. I have a very serious request, I have to ask of you. Tell me. Has Danzo approached you to join Root?"

I looked straight at him and saw the very serious demeanor he now sported on his face. "Y-Yes, Hokage-sama. He extended his offer and left before I gave an answer."

Hiruzen sighed. He took a puff from his signature pipe and looked back at me. "What are you going to do, Hiro-kun?"

I took a few moments to think and I simply looked at him and told him that I simply didn't know.

"Why did you become a shinobi?"

"I never really had a choice. Clan responsibilities demanded that I became one."

"Going forward, Do you even want to be a shinobi in the field? It would be simply for me to assign you with responsibilities in the village. You don't have to be out in the field."

"Really?" I said with a surprised and confused tone.

Hiruzen gave a small smile, and replied, " You have helped the village enormously. You gave of advanced warning of an imminent invasion. You could have saved this entire village. You helped save countless lives. The village is indebted to you Hiro-kun."

Hiruzen stood up and looked back down at me. "I want you to come back to the tower tomorrow. Tell me what you want to do. The room directly across has been made for you to stay." He walked away and left me alone in the den. I started to just look around and really think what I wanted to do. I wanted to get stronger. Except here was the hokage giving me another route if I so wished to do something else.

I went to the room and just sat down. I looked around and found the scroll that Hiashi or Hizashi had left for me. I laid down and closed my eyes and let the darkness take me away.

 **3 A.M**

A shadow was seen leaving the hospital and blurred through the night. The tall shadow leapt from rooftop to rooftop and was making it's way to the Sarutobi Compound. The shadow looked like a white blur from a distance.

Eventually the blur landed on top of the main house. There was another figure there already waiting in the darkness. The only real thing visible was the faint ember inside of what looked to be a pipe.

"Sensei."

"He will more than likely stay in your apprenticeship. Before the force leaves out to meet the Iwa force, I need you to take him and Two ANBU and meet with the Kazekage." The figure pulled out a small scroll from inside his robes. "Get him to agree to reinforce us in the battle. When you secure the forces. You need to immediately leave and join attack the Iwa force from the west flank. Minato will lead a sizable force from the east. You have roughly less than two weeks before we estimate their force cross into Hi no Kuni."

The shadow gave a small smirk in the darkness and began to sink into the building before he was stopped by the other man. The glowing eyes of the shadow were staring up at Hiruzen.

"Don't let Hiroaki onto the front lines. Keep him far away from the battle."

 **A/N: Welcome back readers! First off I just want to apologize profusely for not updating these past couple of weeks. Life decided to throw me a** **curve ball** **by having my laptop suddenly die. I lost around 10k words I had written for this story. So as you might figure, I lost a lot of inspiration to continue writing until I happened to stumble across a story named** **Dragonfly by Kettobase** **. If you haven't read it, I do recommend you do, it's a good read that is very well-written. Long story short, I got inspired to continue writing this story.** **Additionally, the Third Shinobi War Arc is coming to its end in the next two chapters. The story will being to pick up pace after that and begin the "New Hokage" story arc.**

 **If you have any questions, please leave them, I will begin to respond to any questions you might have in the PM's.**

 **Question: What angle do you think the sandaime is playing at?**


	10. Ch10 Before the Battle

**Before the War**

Hiro fell down the cliff and continued to roll down hitting the rocks and branches. After falling for more than twenty meters, Hiro had several cuts and many bruises. Still he refused to give up. He crawled back on to his feet and pulled out his Tanto. He looked back up to Orochimaru laughing at him.

Hiro grew angry and activated his byakugan. Finally looking over the entire battlefield he found he was surrounded by hostile animals. His byakugan shut it's self off and his vision went back to normal.

"You can't win Hiro-kun. You'll never get these bells." Orochimaru did his sinister laugh. Quit now. Go back to the academy, you aren't ready to be a real shinobi." He turned his back to Hiroaki and began to walk away.

Hiro began to get charge what chakra he had left. A little over 70 percent. He then began to charge up ahead and activate his byakugan .

" **Hakke Kusho**!"

The wave of chakra propelled forward and struck Orochimaru in the back. Orochimaru instantly turned to mud and fell into the ground. Hiroaki looked everywhere with his byakugan and noticed, Orochimaru underneath him. Before, Hiroaki could even move or react he was sunk into the ground effectively trapping him. Orochimaru rose from the ground and began to laugh louder than before.

Hiroaki closed his eyes and used shunshin to move behind Orochimaru. In mid-jutsu, Hiro began to reach for the bells. The world slowed down to a crawl. He could see himself inching closer and closer to the bells. It was almost if the bells began to move a nudge toward him. He was getting closer and closer.

 ***Cling** *

Time picked up in speed again, and Hiroaki swiped at nothing. Hiro felt a blade land on his throat. "Too slow Hiro-kun." Orochimaru laughed again and then the timer rang. There was no more time left. The 30 minute time limit Orochimaru had put had ended rather abruptly.

"Looks like you failed to get the bells again, Hiro-kun. I expected more from a 'prodigy' like you. Kukuku" He had risen from the floor in front of me. This was the 4th time he had me go through this test. Each time I would make any progress at all the timer would go off. Each time I had failed he would tell me exactly what I did wrong and he would then begin to mock me and my skill's.

Any confidence I might have had in any of my skills had quickly evaporated under his very watchful eye. It had only been two days since he forcefully took me from the Sarutobi compound to accompany him on this mission.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _The night had been rather dreary for me. The amount of nightmares I had gone through would forcefully wake me up bathed in sweat. I hadn't gotten almost any sleep that day. I had continued to ponder what the hokage had told me and I was still debating if I really wanted to be in the field. I mulled over options of joining Root, which would almost guarantee my future as an elite shinobi of the leaf. I thought of what Orochimaru also told me. I'd only have a ceiling of my power that Danzo would allow._

 _I had grown rather tired again and decided to give sleep another try. Nightmare's be damned, I was more than exhausted. I closed my eye's and drifted back to sleep. Yet again the ocean of blood chased me through my dreams seeing the face's and flailing body parts floating toward me. I couldn't escape it no matter how far I ran or which direction I went, it followed me everywhere. It would eventually lead back to that cursed area we had fought the damn Iwa Jounin. Every time the dream would make me fight him over and over again. I had no control over my body during those times either. My body would move on it's own, showing me that twisted fate until I would eventually kill the Iwa shinobi._

 _Yet again, I rose up from my bed drenched in sweat. I could barely breathe, my body panting hard, trying to get very little breath inside me. That's when I saw his eyes staring at me in the dark. Silently gazing upon me. The eyes moved forward, toward me in the bed._

" _Get up. Were leaving." He threw my clothes at me and began to pace while still looked at him with a confused look on my face. He looked at me again and sighed. "What are you waiting for?"_

 _I still wasn't fully aware of what was happening. "Where are we going?"_

" _Mission."_

 _I began to get up and dressed. "At this hour?"_

 _He stayed quiet._

 _I finished getting dressed and went to get my Tanto. Orochimaru went and picked it up before I got to it. He began to inspect it and pulled it out of it's sheath before he took a few practice swings with it. "Where did you get this blade, gaki?" He asked in a demanding voice._

" _It was my mother's. She left it to me." I eyed him carefully as a look of interest crossed his pale face._

" _Do you know, where she got it?" he asked again, this time his voice went back down to a more intrigued pitch._

" _Does it matter?" I asked slightly annoyed._

 _He began to channel chakra into the blade and the blade began to have a small glowing effect on it. Orochimaru instantly dropped the blade. The handle of blade had suddenly grown small spikes. A small smirk crossed his face. He looked at me and gave me his answer. "Won't you indulge your poor sensei."_

 _I sighed. "It was apparently a gift from my father. Can we go now?"_

 _Orochimaru then began to walk phase into the floor. "Bring all of your things, meet me at the gate in 10 minutes."_

 _Flashback ended._

I fell on the floor tired. Barely registering that he was now standing over me. He continued to berate me calling me pathetic for being tired. We had been on the road to Sunagakure no Sato for the last two days. He would only allow us to stop to have his "test" before we continued onward. He truly didn't care if I was tired or not. He wouldn't even stop to eat. He would force us to continue going as we ate the 'Food Bars' that he would hand us. After I had complained to him that he was being unfair, all he had to say was that I could stop at any time I wanted too. He and the other ANBU escort would just leave me behind.

Needless to say, I was beyond sore and tired. He went and handed me another one of his food bars and told me to eat it. The first time I had tried it, it tasted so bitter and sour. I could barely keep it down. I was thoroughly surprised when I began to feel my soreness and exhaustion minimize to tolerable levels. He had laughed at the apparently 'stupid' face I had made.

When I had asked him, what was in the food bars he only smirked and told me I 'couldn't possibly comprehend his experimental rations'. All in all, Orochimaru was kind of an ass. He had a huge superiority complex in this universe and that's really saying something, but nevertheless he had an odd way of inspiring me to continue going. I just wanted to prove him wrong.

Taking the food bar from him and immediately scarfing it down I put on the famous Hyuuga mask on again. I picked myself up from the floor and began to pickup the weapons I had used during the 'test'. After a good 5 minuets of picking up the weapons, I heard the whistle. It was time for us to go. We were apparently behind schedule. We hadn't even made it to Kaze no Kuni. We were currently near the border of Kawa and Kaze no Kuni.

Orochimaru took the lead this time and set out at least a kilometer ahead of the rest of us. Everyone except me had been made to do this. I was too 'slow and weak'. After close to an hour on the road, we came to a halt at the border. Suna had sent out a welcoming party to receive us.

In the distance, I could see Orochimaru and what I could assume was Baki speaking to each other. Then, Orochimaru turned around and yelled for me to come to him. " _Why does he want me to go over there. *sigh* Might as well get this over with."_ I begin walking over there and begin to notice the heat begin to rise. " _Kami-damn desert."_ I finally arrive a few seconds later and I'm greeted with a firm handshake form Baki.

"Ah, you must be Hiroaki. I knew mother, She was a fierce warrior with a gentle heart." and with that Orochimaru quickly dismissed me from their conversation. I was getting tired of just getting dismissed constantly but there wasn't anything I could really do other then leave but that was not really an option.

As I sat there a realization hit me. "I missed the meeting with the Hokage. I also missed the dinner that the Uchiha had invited me too." I knew that any future relationship I had with them had just sunk. Orochimaru had hurried me out if the village before I could even properly think.

It had roughly been an hour traversing through the insanely hot desert before Baki had made his way next to me toward the back of the group. I saw him getting slower and slower and I re-put on my Hyuuga mask. "Hello, Suna-san." I said in my most emotionally devoid voice. "Is there something you need?" I tried not looking at him as we kept up a slower jog.

"Is there many Hyuuga with you hair color?"

"M-my hair?" I looked at him with a very confused face. "You mean if other Hyuuga have pony tails?"

"No, Gaki. You have red hair." He said that as he gave a small chuckle.

I looked at him to see if he was trying to make a joke or something else. Then I noticed that he was seriously asking. "You are mistaken, Suna-san. My hair is brown." I didn't give him a chance to respond before I began to jog faster trying to catch up with Orochimaru at the head of the group. A few minutes later I end up side by side with my sensei.

"How long until we reach Sunagakure?" I asked in huffs.

He spared a small _glance_ my way and then looked back ahead and stayed silent for the next few seconds. "You won't be entering the village. You will be with one of the ANBU outside of our gate. I want you to start a training regiment I've planned out for you."

I stayed quiet for a few moments. "Why outside of the village?"

He looked my way again and replied. "Think Hiro-kun. By the time we arrive at the village, I want you to give me the reasons why. If you succeed in your reasoning, I'll let you find out your Chakra Affinity." He gave me a smirk and told me to go back to the tail-end of the group and to let him be.

I grudgingly slowed down again and began to think why he wouldn't want me to be go inside the village. " _It has to do with me right? Why not let me see the village? Unless he thinks that I will only slow him down. Maybe I've disappointed him with my weak showing against him?"_ I kept wondering until I remembered that I had a sizable bounty on my head. " _That can't be possible.. right? Suna wouldn't go after an ally right? Maybe it's because he wants me to train. He has been calling me weak and useless these last couple of day's."_ _ **Sigh**_.

I kept going like that for at least another two to three hours. After awhile it seemed that they had been taking us in circles, after I spotted the same Sand dune and cactus for the 5th time. Eventually I wandered back to Orochimaru and expressed my concern. He told me to ease my fears. It was only a small illusion of the village to hide itself from unwanted guests. Then he proceeded to dismiss me to the back of the group.

I was getting more and more annoyed as this trip continued going. It was close to sundown, and we had seemingly made almost no progress. We were still stuck in this kami-damn desert. Except the heat had left. Only to be replaced by a kami-foresaken freezing wind. The visibility had basically dwindled to no more than a few hundred meters in front of us.

Still we didn't stop. The Suna-nin told us that we didn't want to spend a night in the desert. Chakra beasts roamed the sandy dunes more often in the nights. Now it was the Suna-nin that surrounded us as the four of us were sandwiched in between the various chunin and jounin. Then the Walls of Sunagakure appeared right before us.

Any previous plans changed when the Baki told us that the Kazekage would have personally welcoming us if he were currently in the village. He would arrive in two days time. Until then we were to be escorted to our Hotel and then we would be free to roam until he arrived. Then he left us with the chunin guards.

* * *

When we arrived and settled into our rooms I was bunked with Orochimaru. The very first thing he did was ask me why he didn't want me in here. "You want to keep my training a secret. That's why an ANBU would keep watch out. That's why I wouldn't be training inside the village. So they do not get a sense of what we can do."

He gave a smirk and handed me a piece of paper. "Push your chakra into the paper, gaki."

I grabbed the paper and twirled it in my fingers for a few seconds. I had been waiting for this moment since I arrived in this universe. I had decided that I would want to have a Doton affinity after seeing how many jutsu and uses the Iwa shinobi had used against use. It had defense, Offense and had jutsu for retreat. Needless to say I was excited.

I flushed the chakra into the paper and I was shocked to see the results. The paper had split down the middle. Then each side wrinkled.

Orochimaru gave a small laugh. "Lucky you. It seems fate has given you a gift."

I looked at him confused.

He stared back and sighed. "Futon and Raiton are the two most offensive chakra natures. It will suit the style of what I want to make you learn. I'm going to make you into an offensive beast."

"Sensei, what about defense? There will probably be opponents that won't go down easily or run through the things I throw at them." He looked at me with a bored look.

"I was under the impression that the Main Branch Hyuuga have the ultimate defense?" He gave me a smirk.

Realization dawned on me. It was clear that Orochimaru had been thinking about this and had come up with a game plan. Whatever he was planning had been well thought out and not hastily put together. Then again he was one of the Densetsu no Sannin.

 **A/N: Hello again and happy Independence day. This chapter is slow but it is really a base to set up the next one. There will be a lot of plot advancement. Next chapter will finally close off the Third shinobi war for the most part and will have the Hokage Election. It will include battle scenes and will set up the course of this story. I'm looking into getting another title for this fic and If any of the readers have suggestions, leave them in the comments.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Us or them**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

 **A/N: Re-branding! Formerly 'Salvation or Damnation', If you hadn't notice by now, I have renamed the story and changed the summary to better fit how this story has progressed. I didn't like the first name I had given the story but now I think this name fits the story better. That's pretty much the only important change I've made that needed immediate attention. More notes to follow at the end of the chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **-A Skip Ahead-**

* * *

Stones rained down on me as I jumped through the many trees around me. I had gotten separated close to a few minutes ago. I was put at the back of the squad again. So when we were ambushed by the rogue Iwa squad I was the first to be hit. The massive pillar of stone hit me dead on my ribs and launched me away from the group.

The shinobi who faced me was trying to go for a death shot with every swing of his fists or sweep of his legs. The ferocity he had brought to me was very surprising. He wasn't going to take me lightly. Never again. He was going all out from the beginning. He must have known who I was. I could barely evaded the shots that seemed to leave craters in their wake.

I kept leaping further and further away as I (shamelessly) ran away. It was all I could manage after being ran ragged by Orochimaru's (torture) training. Bringing out my kunai, I jumped down and threw the kunai blindly behind me and I instantly pushed chakra to my eyes. The world opened up for a few precious seconds before it went back to normal but it was more than enough.

The shinobi had been forced to the ground. While he recovered from his fall, I began to pepper his direction with as many shuriken as I could throw while I made my retreat. After expending my small arsenal of at least 50 shuriken, none had hit their mark. The iwa chunin sped through hand seals and the earth moved all around me. Spikes began to erupt everywhere around me. I was trapped.

Desperation coursed through me and I began to look for where he had disappeared too. Flashing my (almost useless) byakugan, I jumped up into the air as his hands erupted underneath me. Only my instincts allowed me to redirect the strikes that he threw at me. I was thinking of anything that I could do with my chakra reserves. I was currently only near 40 percent. Enough for one Hakke Kusho or two of my new jutsu if I kept the chakra use to it's minimum.

I began to think that playing the waiting game wouldn't work to my favor. I had hoped that Orochimaru would come after he disposed of his opponents. As this fight went on, it became clear that wasn't going to happen any time soon. It has been at least a good ten minutes from the start of the attack. I had to end this quickly.

The iwa shinobi leapt forward and I dropped my guard and let him hit me. He dug his fist into my stomach and that when I grabbed him with both of my arms. The look of panic in his eyes lasted no more than a second as he began trying to free himself from my grip. I twisted my body back and lifted him off the ground and I threw him against his earth spikes.

Those few precious seconds were all I need. "Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon"

" **Raiton: Jibashi" (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)**

The lightning chakra began to gather from my hands and I slapped my hands on the ground and watched as the lightning ripped through the earth as it ripped it's way to the shinobi. Screams exploded from the man. His body convulsed and shook violently. I continued pumping more chakra into my hands until he stopped screaming. He fell to the floor, no life in his eyes. Smoke came out if his clothes and hair. I grinned as wide as I could before I tried moving toward him to see if he was really dead.

I didn't make it far before I felt my legs begin to shake. _"Crap. I over did it. I used to much chakra and it seems my body can't handle producing that much lightning jutsu running through my muscles."_ I kept walking as shakily as I could. A few feet from his body and it reeked of burnt hair and flesh. I wanted to throw up, but I had to make sure he was dead.

My legs were shaking more and more as I struggled on to the body. I saw him there lying lifelessly. I knew I had won. As much as I wanted for the sweet, sweet darkness to overtake me I had orders and I had to complete them. I began to scavenge his body taking any shuriken he had and I allowed myself a few minutes of rest before I tried to make my way back to where we had faced the ambush.

I looked around and realized I was hopelessly lost. I began to panic. I tried looking all around to see any indication of where I had came from and I realized that everything looked the same. Spikes were in every direction. Kunai and shuuriken were embedded everywhere and there was nothing but tree's surrounding the small clearing we had made for battle.

That's when it hit me. I felt all of the negative emotions melted away and relief filled my heart. I flushed as much chakra as I could into my eyes and the beautiful world opened up to reveal the way. 2 or 3 kilometers west from me were shinobi still flushed in battle. I vaulted over the spikes and made my way to my team.

My mind and body were reacting at faster than my normal pace. My legs were still not feeling like they usually did. Every step felt like I was walking with my legs asleep. My leaps increased in power and speed. I thought that maybe I was being delusional for having overtaxed myself but I couldn't be to sure. My chakra use had dropped me more than I had expected to use but it wasn't abnormal for that to happen.

The last few leaps gave me enough view in front of me to that there were multiple bodies strewn all over the floor. It was clear on who or what had died. There was simply too much blood. That's one of things I made a big mental note of in this world. There was too much blood. I guess that they had to censor it for it to make it as a show.

I stayed hidden in the canopy of the tree's as I watched a battle. I couldn't who was who until I saw a peak of the pale face. He was facing two ninja. In my first action of what some would call a real shinobi move, I readied two kunai and pushed my chakra into them. I launched them as hard as I could and they flew from my hands and that's when I noticed they were emitting small amount of electricity. They flew in a straight path right into the back of Orochimaru.

I had mistimed the throw. My heart sank. Orochimaru fell straight down like a rock. The shuuriken had punched through Orochimaru and hit the shinobi he had been fighting.

I'm ashamed to admit it but I froze. I was responsible for the death of one of the strongest ninja in the entire world. Someone who would become a terrible monster in his scientific pursuit. I might have saved the shinobi world countless lives but my heart had shattered. I felt an immense pain in my chest. I couldn't breathe.

* * *

 **Present Time**

No one breathed easily through the rough desert. That's why I had to wear a bandana across my face. It was primarily to keep the sand out of my nose and mouth. Then again, if it made me look far more menacing than it could only help..right?

It had only been a few days since arriving in Suna and Orochimaru had not wasted any time. He was a true slave driver. Pushing me far beyond my limits. True to his word, I was stuck outside while his mud clone trained me.

On the first day he simply had me go over the proper hand seals as fast as I could while I dodged his kunai and shuuriken. If I even slowed down from the set pace he would begin to throw faster and faster until he would eventually hit me. He reasoned that I needed to be able to do hand seals without even having to wait for an opening. He had me practice a new jutsu he thought would be handy in the battlefield. When the night finally arrived he began to teach me more advanced chakra theory and it's practice's in combat.

The second day, I was forced to show him my jutsu repertoire. After disappointing him greatly, he had noticed that I didn't need to use any hand seals with the basic jutsu or in any of the few hyuuga techniques. That had peaked his interests. By noon, he had me test out the new jutsu. Raiton: Jibashi. A lightning jutsu that spread out from the hands made for versatility. It could simply shock and temporarily paralyze the opponent or could become deadly with enough chakra.

After I was instructed to watch him do it he made me turn on my basically useless byakugan. He wanted me to see him do the seals and see how his chakra built up and spread out through his chakra network. I watched him do the jutsu and followed after him with slow hand seals. I let the chakra build up like he had and I unleashed it out my hands. The feeling of electricity was exhilarating.

The chakra that course through my body made me feel close to invincible. Like I could do anything. What came out of my fingertips were rather pathetic in comparison to Orochimaru's massive lightning storm. BUT. I was proud. I had managed to get a few sparks to come out of my hands.

I just knew Orochimaru would begin to bitch me out when he saw how little came out but to my surprise he smirked. "Kukuku. Well done, Hiro-kun. You're not as useless as you appear." I looked up in shock. That had to have been the first time he didn't completely trash my skills. I tried to suppress the huge grin coming onto my face, Thank Kami for the bandana.

"Hehehe. I'll definitely get it bigger next time Orochimaru-sensei!" I had said it with big confidence then I noticed what I had done. I mimicked his laugh! Oh, kami he was beginning to rub off on me. Orochimaru didn't notice and if he did he didn't say anything about it. He just continued to tell me everything I had done wrong and told me to wait longer while building up the chakra. Apparently, since I was a beginner of Raiton Jutsu, my body had to work harder and not nearly as fast to convert the regular chakra into the one I wanted.

Telling me that it would only get stronger and faster with practice was a big drive for me. I wanted to show this smug bastard that I wasn't useless!

The third day had gone rather poorly. Orochimaru hadn't shown up for over an hour. I would have trained but he had forbidden me from doing anything without his supervision. The bastard probably thought I would kill myself or something. After maybe waiting until mid-afternoon, Baki the Suna-nin showed up.

"Hey kid. Follow me." He turned away and began to walk the kilometer to the main gate. I just stood there watching him leave. I wasn't just randomly go with this stranger. I looked over at the ANBU and he simply shrugged at me. I went back and sat down in the sparse shade of the dune behind us.

Baki turned around and saw me sitting down again. He sighed and yelled, " By the order of the KazeKage, you must come with me." This time I reluctantly get up and begin walking toward baki. I had begun to get annoyed with the amount of people who had power over me. It seemed like everyone could just order me around to do whatever they wanted.

After a few dozen minutes, we arrived at the Kazekage's tower. Baki didn't bother waiting to be let through the waiting room seemingly full of shinobi and citizens. He walked through a door and lead us down a hallway. At the end of the hallway we finally reached the doors to his office. We entered and there he was.

Sitting on his chair with his robes and hat on, the Kazekage was signing papers at an alarming rate. Even as fast as he was going he hadn't made a dent in the mountain stack of paper. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Baki cleared his throat and the Kazekage looked up. He stopped writing, and put his attention on us. "Ah, Baki how can I help you?" He said in a loud, stern voice.

"This is the child I was telling you about." he pushed me to the front and center of the room. Needless to say the man had an aura of pure respect and intimidation. His face was young but showed the power he commands. I was beginning to sweat under the intense gaze that the Kazekage was giving me.

He held his stare and began to talk. "What's your name?"

I stumbled with my words. "Hiroaki."

"How old are you?"

"Six." I manage to whisper out.

"Baki tells me that you are a Hyuuga?"

I look questioningly toward baki and look back at the Kazekage. "Formerly."

"Formerly?" he asked with a confused face. He glanced at Baki who simply gave off a small shrug.

"I am no longer apart of the Hyuuga clan." I didn't match his stare this time, electing to look at the floor with a sense of shame.

He didn't speak for what seemed to be an eternity. "I've heard you are Orochimaru's apprentice." He stated matter of factly. He stood up and walked around his desk and stood in front of me. He gave me another once over and his gaze caught my blade.

His stare didn't leave from my blade when I finally asked him something. "Why am I here, Lord Kazekage?"

He finally went and broke his gaze from the Tanto and stared into my eyes. He made a small gesture indicating for Baki to leave. He returned his hand next to him and he just stared until baki left.

"I just wanted to introduce myself. I have met with the rest of the team but you." He lifted his right hand slowly and extended it in front of me.

Not knowing what to do I just stared at his hand before I noticed a small amount of sparkling dust wrapped around my wrist and extended it to met his hand. He shook our hands and spoke up again. "My name is Rasa. Nice to finally meet you, Hiroaki."Orochimaru stood in his room writing up a quick messenger hawk to send back to the Hokage. The terms presented for help seemed very obscure and slightly confusing as to why he would ask for that. He had almost lost his cool when the Kazekage presented his demands and he was shocked to say the least. He had already taken measures to make sure that Hiroaki couldn't be identified in this village.

When the Kazekage had asked him about his student by name, he was surprised that the Kazekage had even learned about it. It had to have been that damned Suna kazekage had appeared upset that he hadn't been allowed to meet the young genin for whatever reason and had practically demanded to meet the boy before an further discussions could be made.

Orochimaru had to promise that he would get to meet the boy after they finished discussing the terms of the aide. That's when Rasa laid down that he wanted the boy to stay in Suna as an ambassador between the villages while his forces went to assist Konoha. He had also demanded that Konoha not take any missions from the Wind Daimyo for the next three years. He had also demand a few other trivial things that could be handled.

Orochimaru scribbled down the demands in code and sent it flying toward Konohagakure. He hoped that it would reach back by the end of the week. They were close to being behind schedule in arriving at the rendezvous point. He knew that if he were in charge, he would have instantly denied the inexperienced kage. He knew that there was more intentions that the kazekage had toward his student but couldn't seems to put his finger in his motivations for wanting to meet the boy.

He knew it must have been what that Suna-nin had told the Kazekage. Baki had seemed too interested in the boy along their journey. He knew something was up when baki mentioned knowing Hiroaki's mother. Now he had to wait in his room while the Kazekage meet with his charge in private. Orochimaru hated not knowing what was happening.

Hiro stood there staring at his hand in awe as the sparkling dust revolved around his hand and wrist. "W-what is t-that?" He asked in awe.

Rasa laughed and twitched his fingers and called forth more of the sparkling dust. It continued to revolve around the boy's wrist before the kazekage squeezed and shaped the dust into a golden medallion. "It's gold" He said as he smirked at the obviously impressed boy.

Hiro looked at the medallion and began to inspect it closely. He saw that it was impressively solid. One side had the Kanji for Wind and the other had his and his mother's name inscribed in it. He was thoroughly impressed with the amount of detail in it. The ridges of the medallion curved with intricate designs. He was getting a fuzzy recollection of the man standing before him. He knew that his foreknowledge was getting worse as time went on. He had to write it down before he forgot more of the important things.

That's when it hit Hiro. The man standing before him was the RASA! The same Rasa that had written that letter to his uncle! Then he looked down at his tanto hanging off his hip. He saw the golden accents on the weapon and began to experience real panic. " _Gift from your Father…"_ He heard the voice echoing in his brain get louder and louder. He stared wide-eyed at the man in front of him who had been saying things to him.

The pounding in his chest thumped harder and harder. His hands began to grow sweaty. He stumbled back and he couldn't begin to even breathe. Rasa rushed to try and keep the boy steady, losing his Kage hat off his head. That's when he noticed it. The same set of hair that he held on his head, albeit smaller and spiker. That was all it took before he was sent over the edge and he blacked out.

Orochimaru was going through a few things in his pack when both ANBU guards burst into his door. "Sir, we have been informed that Hiroaki was taken to the hospital roughly, an hour ago." With that, Orochimaru leapt off the bed and smashed through the window in front of him. He raced down to the hospital as fast as he could go. He arrived there a few minutes later.

He reached the lobby floor before he slammed his hands down on the counter and demanded to know where they were keeping his student. "R-r-roo-m 307" the young lady told the snake. Orochimaru disappeared in a blur and finally stopped in front of the room before he burst through the door. He saw the Kazekage sitting in a corner of the room.

Orochimaru began charging at him and grabbed and lifted the man up by the neck. ANBU flooded into the room waiting to strike down the intruder. "What did you do to him?" He managed to growl through his clenched teeth. Orochimaru squeezed slightly harder. Rasa remained calm with a stoic face.

"Nothing. He simply collapsed when we were talking. It must have been exhaustion. Our med-nin examined him. They said he had low chakra reserves and needed to rehydrate." Rasa said with a calm tone that seemed to get rougher and louder as he went on.

As they both stared each other down a nurse, came into the room. "Kazekage-dono, the DNA results are complete." She stated as she seemingly stumbled into the current situation.

"Thank you. Hand the papers to one of my ANBU." She went forward shakily and handed one of the men the papers. "You may return to work." he stated calmly. The woman began to exit cautiously out the door. Finally, silence returned back into the room.

Orochimaru still held the Kazekage by the throat but his anger was beginning to dissipate. He let the man down, and stepped back. Rasa waved his guard away leaving them both alone with the child. Rasa moved forward and picked up the file that the ANBU had left behind on a small desk. Rasa opened the file and began to review the information inside. With a twitch of anger, his eyebrows furrowed forward and he set himself at staring at the papers in his hand.

Killing intent began to fill the room. Orochimaru who had been staring at the young boy looked over at the now enraged man. Rasa was visibly shaking with the amount of anger that was circulating through him. Rasa looked over at Orochimaru and snarled. He threw the papers at him and stormed out of the room. Orochimaru could hear the yelling of the now distant kazekage.

Orochimaru picked up the papers and began to read them. He began to go through the possible ramifications of what these papers meant. They confirmed that the two DNA samples taken were infact related. Sample #1 was from Hiro. The second sample came from the Kazekage. Orochimaru knew he had to leave the village before anything else happened. He knew that his previous mission had to be abandoned.

So that's how I woke up, being carried while we fled at high-speed back toward Hi no Kuni. As I first opened my eye's I thought I was being abducted again. All I could see were brown and green blurs underneath us as the person who carried me continued to leap from branch to branch. That's when I decided to make my own soon as he stepped for the next branch I would seing my weight back and he would be forced to let go or drop to the floor with me.

The next step came and then nothing. I had tried to shove my way back but He didn't even let go. His step never faltered and he continued leaping. " _Kami, I'm so weak."_ I had to give myself a mental slap to the face. I began to take in my surroundings again and noticed he had his tool pouch in front of my face. I gave my smirk and reached into it and pulled out the first thing I could grab.

I looked at it in confusion. The flask I had grabbed had a small symbol carved into it. The symbol of the leaf. I didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified. Relieved because it meant I was in the hands of my comrades or terrified because I could have been in the clutches of root. Maybe I was being kidnapped and sold by traitorous shinobi.

Some people would have been relieved to see that symbol but not me. I'm a pessimist at heart. I always believed in the worst things of people. That's why a small panic settled into me. That's also why I slammed the flask into the back of this man's knee. That's why I also headed straight into the ground with alarming speed. Not to worry though, my neck would break the fall for me.

Orochimaru was highly agitated. It had been three days since he had left Suna in haste. He had been forced to send back a message to Konoha detailing his mission failure and escape. In this time, Hiroaki hadn't woken up. He had been unconscious for most of the journey.

Most of the journey. When hiroaki had awoken it wasn't for that long. They were in the last leg of the journey back to Konoha when he suddenly felt a small tug backwards. He didn't really pay it any attention thinking that,Hiro was moving in his sleep again. Orochimaru just planted his feet with a tad bit more chakra and launched himself off again. What really took him by surprise was when he went to land again, there a sharp pain in his knee.

Without thinking, Orochimaru had dropped hiroaki to grab his knee. Then he heard the scream coming from the falling boy. Then loud crashing sound the boy made when he hit a branch on the way down. Thankfully the ANBU guards had gone down to grab the boy. The bad thing was that they grabbed him a split second too late.

The boy hit another branch and was knocked out cold again. They had stopped moving forward and Orochimaru simply sighed. "Tell no one of this." He firmly told the two guards. They both nodded and began to leap up to the higher branches with Hiro in tow.

As they picked up their journey, they began to pick up their high speed. Just in case they were being followed by suna pursuers. Not long after he arrived back in Konoha. With the sun rising and peaking out of the east, they didn't stop at the gate, they continued their pace toward the Hokage Tower. Not bothering to check in with the Gate Guards.

After a long day of tree-hopping they finally made it into the office, bursting through the Hokage's window. The hokage stood up and yelled, "What's the meaning of this?!" Then he recognized who it was and he sighed back into the chair. "I'm not sure how you managed on fucking this up so badly Orochimaru. Where you forced to engage any of their shinobi?"

Huffing and puffing Orochimaru spat out. "No, as far as I can tell we lost them before we entered Hi no Kuni."

Hiruzen couldn't stand to look at his prized pupil. He kept his stare on the other three in the room and finally gave a small nod. "Saru and Tori, you are dismissed."

The two anbu disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Why is he unconscious, Orochimaru?" Hiruzen asked.

"He had an accident, sensei. He should wake up soon."

Hiruzen sighed. "You only have one day to rest before you will be sent to back up Minato-kun. You will go and provide the now missing support we would have gotten from Suna."

"Yes sensei. May I ask what you plan on doing about the Kazekage's demands?"

"He has already sent a messenger hawk detailing the immediate release and transfer of his son. He threatens to backtrack out of our alliance."

Orochimaru looked at his old sensei's face and could instantly tell that he was considering giving up the boy. "You can't actually be considering giving him up are you?" Orochimaru exclaimed with shock on his face.

"You've left me no other option! We are on the brink of finally ending the kami-damn war and here you go causing international incidents! You could have jeopardized everything we have all worked so hard for. As we speak thousands of my shinobi could be walking into their destruction because you couldn't properly handle the situation that came up! Get out of my sight!" Hiruzen practically screamed. Killing Intent forcing it's way out of the old man.

With betrayal and disgust on his face, Orochimaru turned and headed for the door still carrying Hiroaki.

"Leave the boy."

Orochimaru stopped in his tracks and clutched his fist in anger. He turned and set the boy on the couch. He took one last look at the sleeping boy and left.

* * *

 **Later that Day**

* * *

Hiroaki was feeling groggy and uncomfortable. Whatever it was that he was laying on was NOT comfy whatsoever. Even if it wasn't to his liking he still stayed there. " _Hm. Maybe Orochimaru-sensei will teach me something new today. At least it doesn't feel anywhere near as hot as it usually does here."_ That's when he started to remember what had happened. His heart pounded in his chest and he tried to listen.

Focusing intently he heard someone grumbling something about paperwork. He clutched the sides of his shirt. He knew he had to act. Without another thought, Hiro sprung into action. He jumped out of the couch and grabbed the closest thing next to him and threw it to where he had briefly heard the man.

As he was twisting his body and releasing the object in his hand he saw who it was. He was staring at the Sandaime Hokage. Hiro glanced back at his hand but it was far too late to stop the pillow he had just released at his full force. His eye's widened and knew he would probably struck down by the Sandaime's ANBU guard any second now. Hiro closed his and waited.

The pillow flew from his hands at full force and skyrocketed across the room in a white blur. Flipping through the air it traveled closer and closer to the unsuspecting man. Hiruzen finally looked up from the paper he had been stamping and **WHAM**.The sandaime flew from his chair and desk, landing awkwardly on his back.

Hiro had heard the loud noise that the pillow had created and he didn't dare open his eye's. After what seemed like an eternity Hiroaki thought he heard snickering from within the walls. Hiro fearfully opened his eye's and saw the Sandaime's body on the floor. He walked forward cautiously with small, small steps.

He finally reached the desk and decided to peek behind it. That's where he saw the crumpled body of his leader. Fearing the worst, Hiro carefully kneeled down next to the poor man and whispered his name. "Pst. Ho-ho-kage-sa-sama...Are you o-oka-y?" He saw that the Sandaime hadn't moved from the floor. Then he noticed a puddle of liquid coming from behind the Hokage's head. "Oh Kami, I Killed Him!"

* * *

 **A/N: I lied. I know I said that I would finish this arc up within the chapter, but I felt that I had took too much time to update. So I decided to split this chapter in two. I will be releasing the next chapter MUCH faster than I did with this one. Sorry it took me almost a month to finally update the story but I had my reasons. I got stuck on what direction I wanted to take the story and what I wanted to do with this character. Finally, deciding on all of the plot for the distant future, I began to write. Along with this chapter I have written out a few scene's. Hopefully this chapter wasn't to boring or my fight scene wasn't too awful. Until next time!**

 **Please leave your thoughts or questions! Any review is greatly appreciated.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Us or them**

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.

 _ **Last Chapter:**_

 _He finally reached the desk and decided to peek behind it. That's where he saw the crumpled body of his leader. Fearing the worst, Hiro carefully kneeled down next to the poor man and whispered his name. "Pst. Ho-ho-kage-sa-sama...Are you o-oka-y?" He saw that the Sandaime hadn't moved from the floor. Then he noticed a puddle of liquid coming from behind the Hokage's head. "Oh Kami, I Killed Him!"_

Hiro began to panic until he looked closer. He saw that the liquid was in fact ink. Relief flooded the boy, but he was still panicking. Why weren't the ANBU attacking him?! Hiro got closer and put his hand in the Hokage's neck to find a pulse.

The old man's hand shot up and grabbed the boy's wrist. The young red head screamed at the top of his lungs. Still caught in the vice like grip, he tried pushing back and tried wrangling loose from his grip. The hokage pushed himself up and began laughing at the boy. He stood up dragging the boy up to his feet.

"It's nice to see you too, Hiro-kun." The hokage said with a small smirk. He looked down and saw the ink blotches covering the Hokage robes. Hiruzen gave a tired sigh. "ANBU! Bring me another robe." He was still holding the boy up by the wrist when he noticed how frightened the boy was. "I'm alright, thanks for asking." the hokage added with small smile.

Hiro visibly looked tensed up while he looked at the elderly man. So when the hokage began laughing and talking again, he relaxed. Until he remembered he had just assaulted the Sandaime. "I am so so so sorry, Hokage-sama! Please forgive me!" Hiro all but screeched out, breaking the infamous Hyuuga mask in the process.

Hiruzen looked at the exasperated look on the boy's face and laughed even more. "It's fine. You gave me a swift reminder that I need to keep my guard up at all times. Imagine if that had been a kunai or a shuuriken. I'd be a goner." The soft smile that hiruzen kept on his face disappeared. "However, if any one dare find out about this then no one will ever find you to confirm if it happened or not." Hiruzen kept a straight and serious face as Hiro's face turned into a look absolute horror. Hiro nodded as fast as he could.

Hiruzen broke into another fit of laughter before he finally released the boy from his grips. "If I may ask. Why did you launch the pillow at me?"

"Oh, I thought I had been captured." The boy rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to keep the embarrassment from his face.

"Ah, I see. At least I know that my shinobi are well-trained in bukijutsu. Tell me, what happened in Sunagakure. I need a complete report from your perspective."

Hiro began his report with the training that Orochimaru had been subjecting him too on the road to suna and their eventual arriving in the desert. Hiro went into incredible detail of what he had to do in his training outside of suna. When it came time to talk about his meeting with his now father, Hiro couldn't help but pause. After a moment of silence he talked about how the Kazekage had asked him a few question but nothing more than that. Then he lied about what happened to put him the hospital. He stated that it must have been exhaustion and lack of rest that finally caught up to him.

Hiruzen could easily tell that the boy was withholding something from him but decided not t call him out of his attempted deception. He opted for a question instead. "Why do you think gave the Kazekage the idea that you were his son?"

The look of shock spread across his face. Hiro hadn't accepted for the man to know of his own suspicions! Now here he was being told that even the Kazekage had the same suspicion that he had! He couldn't believe _that_ man was his father. Under what circumstance had his mother gotten involved with that man. Snapping back to the real world he realized the hokage was still waiting for the answer.

"He knew my mother. I believe he also saw my hair and my tanto and made the connections." Hiro didn't even bother trying to deny that he knew that the man was actually his father. What was the point? It would only be for self-denial at this point. There was too much evidence to guarantee that Rasa was his father.

Hiruzen simply nodded was ready to dismiss the boy when he remembered something. "So after your first official mission, do you still want to be in active duty? Have you thought of what you want to do?" The hokage knew that whatever, Hiro answered wouldn't truly matter at this point. All he could hope for was that he could manage to keep Hiro as a konoha shinobi without starting another war with allies.

Hiro took a moment to really think again. Back in Suna he had decided that he wanted to continue to be under Orochimaru's tutelage but knew that the man was most likely in ANBU and was definitely in Root. If he wanted to be in his training, he knew that he would need to be in either organization to get the man's full attention and training. Currently he was learning what most shinobi would say are basics. If he wanted to survive in this world he would need to take full advantage of the tools being offered to him now. He knew that the life of a shinobi in ANBU would change him. For the better or worse had yet to be seen but he could live with it if it meant that he wouldn't be a pawn in this world. For him not to be a pawn he clearly needed to get strong enough that he could make real change in the world and not just another nameless shinobi.

"I want to be in ANBU."

The hokage simply looked at Hiro with a face that almost resembled pity. " I'm sorry Hiro-kun. You are too young to be put into the ANBU Corps. We can reevaluate your choice in being in the organization after you get your promotion to Chunin or Tokubetsu Jonin. Hiro felt the disappointment almost immediately. He had his suspicions that he would have to wait until the latter was true.

"For now, I will keep you in as an apprentice. You will be in the active genin roster and see where we can fit you in better when Orochimaru is away on missions that you cannot go on."

"Hai, Hokage-sama" Hiro still couldn't help but feel rather disappointed with what had happened. He decided to finally take his leave from the Hokage's office and walk around the village.

Hiro was making his way to a weapons shop to see if he could restock on Kunai and Shuuriken he had displaced back in the desert. Casually strolling the market place he bumped into his friend. A smile made it's way across his face betraying his Hyuuga mask when he recognized Itachi Uchiha. By reflex alone, he reached out and almost gave the boy a hug before he refrained himself from doing so.

"Hey, Itachi-kun. I'm surprised I bumped into you here of all places." Hiro said trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

Itachi simply looked at Hiro and began to walk away from his old friend.

Hiro ran after him and grabbed the boy's shoulder to stop turned around and swatted his hand away. "Leave me be." Itachi said in his usually stoic voice and began to leave again. Hiro couldn't understand why his only friend would be doing this until he remembered why the boy could be mad at him.

"STOP." He ran after him again and got in front of his way. "I'm sorry I couldn't go to the dinner. I was given important mission and had to leave the same day I had made the plans with you. I didn't even have enough to time to gather my gear, let alone inform you and your family that I would have to reschedule."

Itachi got a curious look to his face and he decided to at least listen to his friend. "Important mission? You?" Itachi said almost sounding like he had given a scoff.

Hiro tensed for a moment. Then responded. "Yes, me you ass. Well. The hokage didn't give it to me necessarily. Rather he gave it to Orochimaru-sensei and Orochimaru-sensei decided to take me with him." Hiro said while he tried to keep his hyuuga mask in check.

Itachi began to look at him and finally decided to accept the boy's apology. "You know, you still made me look foolish in front of my Tou-san." Itachi sighed and invited, Hiro back to dinner that night.

"Yes, I have nothing else planned for this evening." With that both boys began to go back to the Uchiha Compound. They walked in relative silence before they reached the homes. It looked different than what he had imagined from the show. Then he remembered that they had been moved after the Kyuubi attack and that still hadn't happened here. " _Why were they moved again_?" He thought to himself. Hiro decided he really needed to review of what he knew of this world before he kept on forgetting more and more of the crucial details.

Arriving at the gates, it opened automatically for the small duo and were not interrupted as itachi lead the way to his home. "Stay out here, I need to tell Tou-san you're here." So he stayed outside as Itachi went in and saw the other Uchiha walking around casually. Everyone seemed to be staring at the former hyuuga and whispering to one another. He began to feel uneasy as everyone who passed seemingly stared at the young boy. He looked back to the door and Fugaku stepped out.

"Come inside." Fugaku waved the boy to come in.

After that, he walked in and was escorted to the eating quarters. He sat down with Fugaku and Itachi and looked at the table. There was a bowl of rice, fish and another bowl of miso soup. " _Ugh. I hate fish. Why does everyone here enjoy eating fish so much."_ Hiro looked up and noticed it would only be the three of them eating. He wondered where itachi's mom currently was. Then his mind wondered and questioned who had made the dinner? Itachi had been in his presence for the last 30 minutes as they had walked to the house.

He looked back down at his place and knew that he had to leave the dishes absolutely spotless if it had been Fugaku that had infact cooked the meal. That meant he had to eat the Kami-damn fish! He knew he would have to suffer the entirety of the dinner and hope that he wouldn't throw up any of the food. He suspected he was already on the bad side of this clan. He knew that if disrespected them in their own home he would be absolutely hated by the clan.

He gulped and waited for Fugaku to start the meal. He wasn't too sure how they would start it. After a few tense moments, Fugaku began to eat and that gave the go ahead to the two younger children at the table. After around a minute of silence, Fugaku cleared his throat and spoke.

"It's nice to finally receive you in our home. Itachi had spoken about his mystery friend on a few occasions." He gave a slight nod in itachi's direction. "I wanted to thank you for helping my son along in his training and apologize if my son has held you back in any form."

Hiro felt absolutely astonished at what he was hearing. He couldn't believe it in fact. "I should be the one apologizing. It has been itachi teaching and helping me along in my training. Your son is a greater prodigy than I could ever be." Hiro looked in Itachi's direction and saw the boy looking a little embarrassed.

Fugaku's reply shocked the young boy yet again. "You shouldn't humble yourself so much. Your accomplishments in the field out do many veteran shinobi 3-4 times your age. You have also been selected as Orochimaru's apprentice. That is nothing to speak so lightly about." The room went back to silence as the trio continued eating the meal in front of them. 

Nothing much was spoken as they finished their meal in silence. Cleaning the table up, Fugaku invites the boy's back into his study. The trio moved and walked across the large house. Once they reached inside, Fugaku motioned for them to sit on two empty chairs.

"Tell me, Hiroaki-san. Now that the Hyuuga have excommunicated you from the clan, where are you currently staying?" Fugaku asked, more or less phishing for information.

Hiro couldn't tell if the man in front of him actually cared, was being polite, or was trying to manipulate him. He knew sooner or later that people would try and take advantage of him, but he hadn't expected it to be this quick. "The Hokage was gracious enough to allow me a room in the Sarutobi Compound."

Fugaku took a moment analyzing the boy's response before he answered with his own. "Well as a friend of my son, I must insist that if you find yourself without a place to go, you can come here. If you ever need help with something, feel free to ask of our help, the Uchiha try to help their friends." He gave a smirk.

 **After Dinner**

Hiro made his way back through the town after leaving the Uchiha Compound. Hiro had still felt disappointed after the Hokage had told him he was far too young to be put into the ANBU training regiment. Now he found himself seeking out Orochimaru but had failed to find him after about an hour of looking. Now he was making his way back toward the Sarutobi compound to retrieve the scroll he had left there. He wanted to try something new. Walking into his temporary room (courtesy of the hokage),he didn't find the scroll anywhere.

Instead he simply found a note saying to go to his favorite training spot. Hiro looked at the note in confusion. Only one other person should know about the spot and he doubted that itachi would go and break into the Sarutobi compound and take his scroll. Hiro knew it could very well be a trap but decided to go any way. What could they possibly do to him inside of Konoha?

He left the room and made his way to the area. When he arrived he immediately activated his byakugan. He spotted 5 small chakra defections in the area that screamed to him about an ambush. He was too late in moving. The defections sprung and revealed themselves. 5 masked shinobi surrounded him in an instance. Hiro fell into his Juken stance and waited for them to make the first move.

The group moved in unison. Hiro could see them all approaching, for once his Byakugan wasn't turning off! They closed him into a tighter circle and finally lunged. " **Hakke Sanjūni Shō!"(Gentle FIst Art:Eight Trigrams Thirty-two Palms)** Hiro blazed and began to land critical strikes on the Root shinobi. In a matter of seconds that followed, only 3 root-nin had jumped back from the assault. 2 of them laid unconscious on the floor. Those 3 hadn't escaped unscathed. They had several important tenketsu closed off. Forming their chakra was much harder to do now.

One of the root shinobi hadn't jumped back far enough, Hiro leapt forward with a kunai in his hand. A shadow raised up from the ground and grabbed the young hyuuga's wrist. For the second time that day he found himself in the grips of one of the Village leaders. Danzo stood there with a stoic face. Without uttering another word, he felt the familiar pull of the _**Shunshin**_ technique. A moment later, the figures in the clearing all disappeared.

 **ROOT Secret Base**

Hiro had stop resisting since they had initially pushed him into the underground tunnel. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fight off Danzō. He simply complied as he pushed him along the very dark tunnel. They had been walking for what seemed to be half an hour.

The tunnel twisted and turned. Went from stairs going up to steep declines in altitude. All the while having no light to navigate. This must be meant to confuse any intruders that managed to get into these tunnels. As far as Hiroaki could tell, there wasn't any obvious way in or out of these tunnels.

Finally reaching an open chamber filled with small candles that were placed along the walls. Hiroaki immediately noticed the row of cells that aligned the room. Hiro's heart sank down in his chest. The group noticeably stopped here.

"Took you long enough." Said a voice from the far left of the room. Hiro instantly recognized his sensei's voice. He immediately looked over at him and felt a tinge of relief. If his sensei was there, it couldn't be all that bad.

Danzō went to have a small conversation with Orochimaru while the guards put Hiro into one of the cells. After what seemed to be another long wait for the two men to finally stop talking, they both made their way to Hiro. Danzō did a set of hand signs and the doors opened up. They both turned around and motioned for Hiro to follow them into another dark tunnel.

This time, the tunnel wasn't nearly as long. It was a short walk before light broke through the other side. In this room it had multiple doors. Danzō entered the leftmost door before he came back holding onto Hiro's scroll and a small black cloak and a small porcelain mask. He came back and told Hiro to follow him.

This time they walked for a good 6 minutes before the group arrived at his office. He sat down in his desk and laid the items on it. He motioned him forward and told Hiro to sit down. As he sat he noticed Orochimaru went to a different side of the room and began to lean against the wall.

A few moments of silence later, Hiro cleared his throat and spoke. "Why am I here?" Hiro said feeling a strange sense of Deja Vu.

"It seems that current events have forced our hands into hiding you. With this.. revelation of your heritage, it seems that you will be playing a bigger part in our plans." Danzō replied with his cold voice.

"Plans?" Hiro asked confused as he turned to look at his teacher.

Danzō pushed the black ANBU cloak and mask in my direction. "We have great plans for you, Hiroaki."

Hiro went and picked up the cloak and mask. Flipping the mask over he felt a strong sense of confusion. "Why?"

"Sensei plans on giving you away to Sunagakure to save his precious alliance." Orochimaru scoffed.

Hiro stayed quiet for a moment trying to deduce what the plan was before he tried to answer again. "You want me to join Ne, so Hokage-sama has no authority over me as a shinobi..?" Hiro took a wild swing in the dark. By the way they both looked at each other it became evident that they hadn't thought of that. Danzō sighed out loud and told Hiro to wait outside while they discussed something.

" _I don't think they planned too far ahead or really thought about this situation. *sigh* I wonder if anyone even knows i'm missing. Would they even care to go look after me? Well the Hyuuga might, they wouldn't want anyone getting their hands on our precious eyes. They would probably give me a seal and then kill me too insure that the byakugan was successfully locked away."_

Hiro's thoughts were interrupted as the door opened. They motioned for him to walk in and he walked back to where he was previously sitting down. He looked to orochimaru and then to Danzo.

"In the upcoming weeks there will be many trials that you will have to face, Hiroaki. The elder council will fight on your behalf to remain in the village. I can speculate that even some of the shinobi council will fight for it too. Whether or not you leave to Sunagakure will be Hiruzen's decision. In the event that you are forced to go, you are to act as our eyes and ears inside the village. Before this decision is made, you will be trained here in case of that scenario."

"What happens if I get to stay in the village?"

"You are a proven asset on the field, and as such we will provide you will all of our training as possible. You will be molded as an important figure for this village. With your heritage from such a noble clan, and blood from another important family, you will be an important person. There is no doubt that if the Kazekage cannot get you in this try, he might lead us back into war."

Hiro thought things through for a few seconds. "What makes you think I would want to join Ne?"

Danzo gave a small smirk. " I heard you wanted to join ANBU Black Ops? Well, I'm giving you a chance to join my ANBU forces."

From there on, they continued to discuss more of the intricate plans and response, Hiro should make if ever questioned by Hiruzen and so forth. They told him that he didn't have to worry about having a place to say any longer. Ne would provide adequate housing and supplies for the young boy.

The final thing they had told him was that he would be accompanying Orochimaru into the upcoming battle. Apparently victory was required at all costs, so Danzo was sending a sizeable force of his ANBU to help ensure Konoha's victory was a success. They told me that this mission would be a test to see if I had it in me to pass the trial's and training that Ne would put me through.

They went and escorted the boy to the sleeping quarters inside the base and led him into a room where he would be staying for the meantime. He walked in and laid out the things they had given him. His scroll, the black cloak, the small featureless white, porcelain mask and a scroll of basic supplies.

Unsealing the basic supplies, he noted that there was a tipless Tanto among other things there. He finally remembered that he hadn't noticed that his mother's tanto wasn't with him. They had most likely left the sword behind in Sunagakure as they had fled the village. He knew that he would probably not be seeing the blade anytime soon. His mind then wandered to what was revealed in Suna.

His father was the Yondaime Kazekage. He didn't know what to feel. Should he feel happy that he had found out who his father was? Should he be mad that no one ever told him who exactly his father was? Why had it been kept a secret? Did anyone know? Why did his mother never mention it too him when she was alive?

He didn't like questioning whether or not his mother had the best intentions for him but was left wondering if she did. He had always been treated badly by the rest of the Hyuuga Clan. No one ever really wanted to interact with him. The loneliness he experienced had driven him to shell himself up in his own mind. He had almost no friends or reason to actually stay in Konoha.

That though made Hiro go wide-eyed. He had almost no reason to stay in Konoha. The village had almost taken everything from him. He had no family that wanted to interact with him. He had no friends besides Itachi. The shinobi side of things wanted to use him for their own gains,no doubt about it. Fugaku wouldn't have approached him if the man hadn't something in mind to advance his own interests. The same could be said about Danzo and the Sandaime.

Really, only Orochimaru had shown genuine interest in him and his well-being. The monster everyone in Konoha would come to hate and fear was the one who might have had his best interest in mind. He had taken to teaching him and giving him his attention and laying down parts of his philosophies so he could learn. Or maybe Orochimaru had other sinister things in mind but he hadn't seen any of that so far. He had come to a conclusion that maybe it was Konoha that had ended up twisting Orochimaru, Danzo, and Itachi into the monster that they had been seen as.

The same konoha that he was in. Maybe this village would end up twisting him into another monster. Fear ran through him. Those three were all in his life, taking up chunks of his time and had interests into him. The boy asked himself just who he was.

He knew he had come from somewhere else right? Could he even remember anything from where he had come from? The boy sat up and began to try and remember his old life. He simply couldn't put any of the details. He knew had a family and people that loved him. Except he couldn't remember any real details from that world. He began thinking that maybe he had been going insane.

He thought it could have been a coping mechanism his mind created from the constant loneliness he had experienced so far. That would make sense if he didn't know better. He knew he had foresight into this world. He knew the things that would eventually happen. He had already been exposed to some of things that had came true.

He thought that now would be a good time to finally start writing down the foresight he had before he lost more of it to time. He grabbed his main scroll and opened it. He took one of the supply scroll his uncle had given him and opened it. Sure enough his uncle had left him writing materials. He took a pair of each and began to try and write in his old language.

A huge grin appeared when the words and thoughts came naturally and what he write down had made sense to him. It was great reassurance to the boy that he wasn't losing his mind. He spent the next thirty minutes writing down the things he could remember from this world. The more he had written down, the more he began to remember from his old life. It served to calm the boy down about his alleged delusions.

He went and sealed the notebook back into the supplies and then resealed that into the blood scroll. He knew that no one but him and maybe his uncles could now get into the notebook. He walked over to the small bathroom and headed to the sink. He washed the blood of his hands and then paused when he looked at the mirror.

" _These aren't my eyes."_ His hands reacted to the thought and went up to feel around his eyes. " _This isn't my hair."_ His hands combed through his longish hair. " _This isn't my nose."_ His hands began to inspect his small nose. " _These aren't my lips."_ His hands began to slightly tremble. Anger building up inside his small frame. " _THIS ISN'T MY FACE!"_ His hand bawled up into a fist and smashed the mirror into shards.

 **Next Morning**

"We only have a day to make you not totally useless. So come get these bells. Kukukuku." Orochimaru taunted again. His voice rang from every direction.

I turned on the byakugan and saw him sitting down eating breakfast on a log. " _The nerve of this guy!."_ I prepared my **Hakke Kusho** and decided to test something new out. I smirked at the mere idea of this and I knew that no other Hyuuga had probably ever thought of doing this. I had thought of combining the **Shunshin** with **Hakke Kusho.** I didn't know how I would do it. I had to either **Shunshin** myself and then do the technique as fast as possible and catch him off guard or actually **Shunshin** the **Hakke Kusho** itself to Orochimaru! If the latter turned out to be possible, it would leave me with endless applications of it. I could possible **Shunshin** a Shuuriken and attack people from a much longer range. With the Byakugan as well I could essentially turn into a sniper! The possibilities were absolutely outstanding!

I decided right there I rather test to see if that was possible then take his "training" (torture) that day. I began walking to Orochimaru and decided to tell him.

There he was simply finishing off his breakfast off when he saw that his student was walking out from the forest. He continued munching on his food as the boy continued approaching. He didn't sense any hostility coming from his young charge and thus deemed he was not a threat. Yet he still tensed slightly. Just in case. "Kukuku. Realize how hopeless you are?"

The boy didn't respond as he drew near. Instead the boy reached into his black cloak and took out a Kunai. He lazily threw the the butt end of the kunai at him indicating for him to catch it. Orochimaru reached out with a chopstick and caught it, spinning it several times.

"Is it possible to manipulate a kunai with chakra after it's left your hand?"

That had instantly peaked his interests. "Well, it is possible. Too difficult for most shinobi to do. Kukukuku. Certainly too difficult for you to do. Why?" Orochimaru tried to hide the eagerness of the question.

The boy tilted his head and gave a wide smirk. The boy didn't want to reveal the answer to the question. He wanted to learn this technique by himself. "Is there any techniques you know that can do that?" The boy couldn't hide his excited face anymore.

Orochimaru knew there had to be something spinning in that boy's head. So he went and asserted himself again. "I'll tell you if you tell me why you want to know."

The boy's disappointment became evident. He frowned at his teacher and remained silent for a few seconds. "I had an idea when I was coming up with a game plan, but if you don't tell me then I'll just find somebody who will." The boy had the nerve to speak like that to him and still walk away! Orochimaru put down the bowl, flipped the kunai so that the kunai pointed up his arm and threw it at the boy. " **Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** As it flew, hundreds of kunai appeared and blanketed the area.

Before the boy could even react, he was hit with dozens of kunai. Thankfully none of the kunai impaled him, they just bounced off of him. BUT they hurt like hell! Hiro stayed laying on the floor. The wind had been knocked out of him. He heard Orochimaru's laughter.

Orochimaru walked over him and simply grinned down at the boy. "Does that answer your question?" Then he laughed again. Walking back to finish his food.

"Yes. Yes it does." He said as he began to get up and dust off his cloak. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"No." Orochimaru began to munch his food more. "You're not ready to do it yet. You need to know the regular Kage Bunshin first."

"Can you teach me that then?" He asked still holding on to hope.

" I'm not sure you have enough chakra to effectively utilize the clone to it's full potential. I'll teach it to you if you just tell me why you want to learn it."

Hiro knew he probably couldn't keep it a secret forever. He might as well tell the man a part of what he wanted to learn how to do. He would just have to make sure the man didn't steal the credit for inventing this jutsu. "I wanted to manipulate a shuuriken or a kunai and Shunshin it to an enemy."

Orochimaru had been blown away. He had never even thought of doing something like that! The ingenuity behind this Jutsu was simply incredible! He was beyond impressed. He had always known the boy in front of him was talented and quick-witted. But this just proved to him he was teaching a prodigy like himself. That had to be it!

He gave a sickening smile and licked his lips. "Let's get started then."

 **Next Day**

The next day came and Hiro was beyond tired. The training had been chakra intensive and he had not fully recovered. Yawning he got ready and put on his cloak and mask. At least a hundred root shinobi were getting ready next to him. They stood in front of Danzo who was yelling out his expectations and groups. I got paired into Orochimaru's group of 4 and we set off in our individual squads outside of the village.

Once we were a good kilometer away from the village, the shinobi that been following us began to go in their own ways to eventual arrive in the area that they had laid out for us in Kusagakure. They wanted us to follow in the Third's plan of an ambush. Orochimaru's group was to go and inform Minato and then ensure the Ne Squad's were in the correct positions. After waiting half an hour we set off.

A/N: Well, here we go! Finally in the last leg of this war and ready to cause some heavy damage! For those of you that didn't get to read the previous little update, I decided to upload what I had and leave the battle for the next update. Multiple people showed support for me to upload it now rather than waiting later. I will try to pump out the next chapter by the end of this weekend, but no promises.

For those interested in how strong I see Hiro being. Some of his kills up to now can be attributed to the ingenuity of the character and the gross underestimation that they have of him.

Also,s sorry for misleading you guys into thinking the Hokage was dead. I just thought it was a funny little scene to add. Until next time. Out.

Hiroaki Hyūga

Age:6  
Ninjutsu: 2  
Taijutsu: 2  
Genjutsu: 1  
Intelligence: 4  
Strength: 2  
Speed: 2  
Stamina: 2  
Seal: 2  
Total: 17 Average Genin (14)


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.

Chapter 11 Flashback

 _Stones rained down on me as I jumped through the many trees around me. I had gotten separated close to a few minutes ago. I was put at the back of the squad again. So when we were ambushed by the rogue Iwa squad I was the first to be hit. The massive pillar of stone hit me dead on my ribs and launched me away from the group._

 _The shinobi who faced me was trying to go for a death shot with every swing of his fists or sweep of his legs. The ferocity he had brought to me was very surprising. He wasn't going to take me lightly. Never again. He was going all out from the beginning. He must have known who I was. I could barely evaded the shots that seemed to leave craters in their wake._

 _I kept leaping further and further away as I (shamelessly) ran away. It was all I could manage after being ran ragged by Orochimaru's (torture) training. Bringing out my kunai, I jumped down and threw the kunai blindly behind me and I instantly pushed chakra to my eyes. The world opened up for a few precious seconds before it went back to normal but it was more than enough._

 _The shinobi had been forced to the ground. While he recovered from his fall, I began to pepper his direction with as many shuriken as I could throw while I made my retreat. After expending my small arsenal of at least 50 shuriken, none had hit their mark. The iwa chunin sped through hand seals and the earth moved all around me. Spikes began to erupt everywhere around me. I was trapped._

 _Desperation coursed through me and I began to look for where he had disappeared too. Flashing my (almost useless) byakugan, I jumped up into the air as his hands erupted underneath me. Only my instincts allowed me to redirect the strikes that he threw at me. I was thinking of anything that I could do with my chakra reserves. I was currently only near 40 percent. Enough for one Hakke Kusho or two of my new jutsu if I kept the chakra use to it's minimum._

 _I began to think that playing the waiting game wouldn't work to my favor. I had hoped that Orochimaru would come after he disposed of his opponents. As this fight went on, it became clear that wasn't going to happen any time soon. It has been at least a good ten minutes from the start of the attack. I had to end this quickly._

 _The iwa shinobi leapt forward and I dropped my guard and let him hit me. He dug his fist into my stomach and that when I grabbed him with both of my arms. The look of panic in his eyes lasted no more than a second as he began trying to free himself from my grip. I twisted my body back and lifted him off the ground and I threw him against his earth spikes._

 _Those few precious seconds were all I need. "Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon"_

 _"_ _ **Raiton: Jibashi" (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)**_

 _The lightning chakra began to gather from my hands and I slapped my hands on the ground and watched as the lightning ripped through the earth as it ripped it's way to the shinobi. Screams exploded from the man. His body convulsed and shook violently. I continued pumping more chakra into my hands until he stopped screaming. He fell to the floor, no life in his eyes. Smoke came out if his clothes and hair. I grinned as wide as I could before I tried moving toward him to see if he was really dead._

 _I didn't make it far before I felt my legs begin to shake. "Crap. I over did it. I used to much chakra and it seems my body can't handle producing that much lightning jutsu running through my muscles." I kept walking as shakily as I could. A few feet from his body and it reeked of burnt hair and flesh. I wanted to throw up, but I had to make sure he was dead._

 _My legs were shaking more and more as I struggled on to the body. I saw him there lying lifelessly. I knew I had won. As much as I wanted for the sweet, sweet darkness to overtake me I had orders and I had to complete them. I began to scavenge his body taking any shuriken he had and I allowed myself a few minutes of rest before I tried to make my way back to where we had faced the ambush._

 _I looked around and realized I was hopelessly lost. I began to panic. I tried looking all around to see any indication of where I had came from and I realized that everything looked the same. Spikes were in every direction. Kunai and shuuriken were embedded everywhere and there was nothing but tree's surrounding the small clearing we had made for battle._

 _That's when it hit me. I felt all of the negative emotions melted away and relief filled my heart. I flushed as much chakra as I could into my eyes and the beautiful world opened up to reveal the way. 2 or 3 kilometers west from me were shinobi still flushed in battle. I vaulted over the spikes and made my way to my team._

 _My mind and body were reacting at faster than my normal pace. My legs were still not feeling like they usually did. Every step felt like I was walking with my legs asleep. My leaps increased in power and speed. I thought that maybe I was being delusional for having overtaxed myself but I couldn't be to sure. My chakra use had dropped me more than I had expected to use but it wasn't abnormal for that to happen._

 _The last few leaps gave me enough view in front of me to that there were multiple bodies strewn all over the floor. It was clear on who or what had died. There was simply too much blood. That's one of things I made a big mental note of in this world. There was too much blood. I guess that they had to censor it for it to make it as a show._

 _I stayed hidden in the canopy of the tree's as I watched a battle. I couldn't who was who until I saw a peak of the pale face. He was facing two ninja. In my first action of what some would call a real shinobi move, I readied two kunai and pushed my chakra into them. I launched them as hard as I could and they flew from my hands and that's when I noticed they were emitting small amount of electricity. They flew in a straight path right into the back of Orochimaru._

 _I had mistimed the throw. My heart sank. Orochimaru fell straight down like a rock. The shuuriken had punched through Orochimaru and hit the shinobi he had been fighting._

 _I'm ashamed to admit it but I froze. I was responsible for the death of one of the strongest ninja in the entire world. Someone who would become a terrible monster in his scientific pursuit. I might have saved the shinobi world countless lives but my heart had shattered. I felt an immense pain in my chest. I couldn't breathe._

Break

I sat there staring at the bodies of Orochimaru and the two he had been fighting. Pools of blood began to form from the bodies. My heart had been pounding harder and harder for every second that passed. MY hands shakily moved to hold on to the branch. I couldn't even breathe still. That's when he heard that sinister chuckle. "Kukukuku, we can't have you breaking down every time you kill a shinobi now. Come on, we need to search and dispose of the bodies."

Relief hit me like a wave hits the shore. He was alive and well. The tension building in his chest dissipated. I felt a smile slowly crawl on my face. The fast pounding in my chest, the adrenaline running through my veins was intense. The heightened sense were all responding to any little sound and smell. This was the battle high some shinobi lost themselves in. He could see why some people lost themselves in this feeling. It felt like I could take on the world. My body again moved to where orochimaru was and began to search on of the bodies there. That's where I found a small scroll. "Master, I found something!" He looked over and I tossed him over the scroll. He snatched it out of the air and he opened it. A grin flashed over Orochimaru's face and he began to give a laugh. "Good job, Hiro-kun. We found our new mission. " Orochimaru began to explain that the scroll contained a handful of locations of other scouts cells like the one that had attacked us. He summoned a snake and told it to deliver a message to the main forces. Orochimaru now set his sights to destroying the scouts before they could report back to the main invasion group. It fell to me and him to take out the positions.

Break

Body's laid strewn out over the small meadow they battle had taken place. They were in the second to last outpost before they would have to stop. Hiro was exhausted, while his chakra levels were near half, his small body still ached. He hadn't experienced the quick blitzkrieg attacks he and his master had been doing on the outpost. His mind was still focused on the job, his heart was still beating faster than a jack rabbits. There was no time to rest either, they had to keep moving, lest the other outposts had found out and sent for help from the larger battle group. There was something very important Hito had learned very quickly. While the thrill of battle had initially in thrilled him with a sort of bloodlust, he knew that when the battle would be over he would be extremely sick. He had seen a lot of limbs separated from their bodies, and there was no possible way he would be okay afterward. He now knew why war changed people, why Kakashi was as gone mentally as a kid. No child should ever have to experience this thing, genius or not. The next thing that began to shock him was that he began to find battle thrilling in the first place. Being in the constant presence of Orochimaru would no doubt have adverse effects.

"Let's go. We've rested long enough." Orochimaru rang out from behind him. Hiro grabbed the small pack of food he had been eating on the floor and threw it into the fire Orochimaru had made to burn the evidence. Hiro finally pushed himself up from the floor shakily. He grabbed the ninja tools he still had left and walked over to his master. "Where are we going now?" "Two kilometers north from here. Seems to be the biggest area according to the scroll. It might inhabit a small town so we must be stealthy for this one. Do you have enough chakra to activate your eyes?" Hiro packed his tools away and replied with a quick yes.

Not long after the group of two began to race across the lands scouting as they went along. When they made it to the outskirts of the small town the sun had fully set shifting the sky to a starry black. The town was dead silent. Nothing moved outside, there was almost an absence of life that was really disturbing. There looked to be no battle or anything of that nature. There were still a few doors open with only the darkness inhabiting the homes. "What do you see?" Orochimaru whispered. Without uttering the words, hiro activated his byakugan. The world changed and there he saw the villagers. They were being held hostage in the small central tower. "10 villagers, all women and children, tied up on the floor. 5 shinobi guarding behind the windows and doors. 1 shinobi with the biggest chakra levels in standing near a bloody table."

"Nothing else?" "No. The village is empty." Without uttering any more words, Orochimaru began to speed through hand seals and sucked in an enormous amount of air. " **Futon: Daitoppa!"** (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.) A massive amount of chakra was released in an instant. The entire town was completely decimated. The building were ripped apart in the hellish winds produced by the jutsu. The tower crumbled in on itself burying everyone inside under tons of rubble. There were no survivors. Hiro stared in absolute shock. He was shaking. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He couldn't believe that Orochimaru would do something like that. He knew what the man was capable of but actually seeing it was something else entirely.

Hiro had been disillusioning himself of Orochimaru. He had been beginning to think there might be more to the snake sannin but this. There was nothing he could do to describe it. They were supposed to be helping people not murdering innocent people. Almost as if Orochimaru had read his mind, he spoke up. "There was no hope for them. They had most likely been tortured slowly and taken by the male shinobi until they were of no use. They would have died slowly and in pain. I did them a favor and accomplished the parameters of our excursion here. " Orochimaru's voice was stern but soft at the same time. He put his hand on Hiro's back and gave him a pat on the back. There was some truth to his words, hiro remembered what happened in his own world during times of war. No one was left innocent, but he still had the gut feeling that they should have had a chance. They had done nothing wrong. They had just happened to live there.

Again, Orochimaru's voice rang out from the darkness. His eye's glowing in the black of the night. "The weak have no place in this world, Hiro-kun. Only the strong have the power to live in this world and only the strongest of us can change it." No more words were spoken on the way to the encampment. Orochimaru had tried to stop them halfway to their objective, to give them a night's rest but Hiro had refused outright. He just wanted to get there. He knew that stopping would only prolong the inevitable.

They had finally reached the camp by sunrise and all of the forces were gathered silently waiting. There wasn't any signs of tents or fire's. There were only the masked men standing. Waiting for their designated leader to give an order. "Sir, there's been developments in your absence. The council and the Fire Daimyo voted in a new Hokage. Minato-san was elected." The shinobi pulled out a scroll and gave it to a seething Orochimaru. After a few minutes of silent reading, orochimaru burned the scroll in his hands. With an angry quiver in his voice Orochimaru ordered everyone to make there way to Konohagakure. Danzo had recalled his forces after the failed attempt to put Orochimaru as the next Hokage.

Orochimaru motioned Hiro over to him. "You are to join the main forces and help the medical section." Orochimaru handed him a map and began to leave. "Take off your Ne uniform. You're going as a regular genin." There was no argument, there was nothing but reading the map and making his way to the forces. He had his orders and Orochimaru clearly had his. Hiro felt nervous that he wouldn't have his sensei with him to protect him but there shouldn't be any thing happening other than guarding or caring for the medical patients that come into the area. Hiro was relieved that everything was actually going as what was foretold. Minato was hokage, The Leaf was going to engage the enemy in one final battle to end the war.

Hiro was tired so he decided to simply rest until noon before he would go to where the rest of the main forces were. At least he wasn't anywhere near the frontlines, that was a big relief for him. He wouldn't see any active combat for a while, he hoped. Though he would have to directly see the results of what would happen to those who would be sent. That thought began to make him feel nausea. He didn't want to see that amount of blood after what orochimaru had done in their escape in Iwa. This time, it would be far larger and it would also be his fellow shinobi. That scared him more. What if someone he had seen or come to know died? What if history had already changed enough to where his presence alone affects the outcomes drastically. He had already changed what happened with how they got the information in the first place. He had already taken Anko's position as Orochimaru's apprentice.

Hiro had enough of his thoughts and pushed himself up after a few hours. With some of his energy and chakra back, he moved in the direction of the forces.

Break

Death and blood surround Hiro. There was a massive amount of bodies strewn everywhere. The manga and show had made it seem like Minato had completely slaughtered iwa. They had been wrong. There were hundreds dead on the Konohagakure side of the battle. Though it was in the thousands for Iwa before they had been forced to retreat back to their country. Word would travel fast about their resounding victory it would only be a matter of weeks before the war ended. Then he would be allowed to go home. Well not his home, he had no home anymore. He would go where Danzo and Orochimaru situated him too. There would be a chance that he would be going to Sunagakure with his father there. He didn't know what would happen, but it didn't matter. Nothing would be the same for him anymore. He would try and cherish everything he had. Seeing so many shinobi cut down before him the last few days had definitely changed him. He knew it had. He knew he was getting used to seeing and smelling death. To him in the past that wouldn't have been a good thing, but now, it made it easier to deal with everything around him.

He had been lucky that he hadn't seen much battle other than the first days him and Orochimaru had taken out the spy posts. He had been relegated to stay with the medics and bring supplies back and forth to the shinobi that needed him. Of course their small group of genin had been targeted and they had been forced to fight or flee. He hadn't much of a choice but to flee and hold off a few attacks before other konoha shinobi had rushed to their aid. He had a few minor bruises but he had escaped death yet again. He didn't know if he was lucky or not, being able to live in this world might in itself be a curse, but that was another matter for another time.

He currently found himself looking at some of the few shinobis that were still in the medical tents. The low amount of healers here was beginning to take its toll. Throughout the enter time here, he had also been made to clean wounds and do minor stitches and apply gauze and other minor things of that nature. They had ran him and other genin with quick medical training to better help. The smell of death was one that was prevalent in the camp. It overrode the stench of the blood. Kusa shinobi were nowhere to be found. He didn't know whether they would attack them or help but for the week he had been here already there hadn't been any signs. Though the main battle had only lasted a day, there were small groups of Iwa shinobi that would try and attack at night. The battle had begun after The entire field had been laced with fuinjutsu marks of minato. The starting attack was to throw hundreds upon hundreds of exploding tags to confuse the Iwa shinobi that had been marching forward.

That had always been the problem with marching in as an army. The groups were too big, to slow to respond effectively, so the ambush had taken them in storm. Explosions rocked the fields for a good five minutes before any clashes with blades and metal happened. By that time, Minato had already killed at least a hundred. Flashing yellow appeared all over the battlefield, with only dead shinobi leaving any evidence of his presence there. That first day, hiro and the other genin were made to run supplies for their own allies before they would even be allowed to go anywhere near the battle. That had only lasted a few hours before they were rerouted to work the medic tents helping save a few shinobis.

Needless to say the medical camp was chaos. With shinobi being brought in by the dozen every few minutes or so really began to change the mindset of all of the young people. Hiro could see the hate beginning to root deep into the genin he worked with. The hate and anger was evident. Everyone wishing they could go and battle the damn enemies doing this to their fellow shinobis. By sunset the Iwa shinobi had retreated back. Minato had taken a cell force to chase them back into their own lands. The praises that were sung for our new hokage were at the highest that could be said. Many shinobi there revered the man as a god. Their protector, and most importantly their savior. Minato hadn't stopped at battling the shinobi he began to run the injured from the battlefield to the medics with his Hirashin. The man cared deeply for konoha, that much was evident from the way he overexerted himself for the sake of his own shinobi.

Hiro's admiration for minato had skyrocketed. Whenever minato would show up in the camp the moods would swing up, the morale went up higher. The man was the definition of what a leader should be. By the end of the week everything was ready to march back to the village. Hiro couldn't help but feel nervous. He knew that Orochimaru took a turn for the worst when he wasn't made hokage. The final 'betrayal' in his own mind. That's when orochimaru began to focus more on his more illegal endeavours. Hiro's nervousness began to skyrocket the more and more he walked to konoha. They had barely left the country of Kusagakure, and he felt sick to his stomach. What if Orochimaru experimented on him like he would have with Anko? Would he be able to fight off the man? Would he survive the twisted experiments of a mad man? His recent dreams of being an ANBU might have been shattered with seeing how much blood was shed. He didn't know if he could handle that strain of constantly being on guard. He knew he could barely handle it now without completely breaking down.

These were the questions his mind would replay over and over in his mind. He couldn't help but have that sick feeling. On top of that his nerves were off wack. Every little noise put him on edge. His hands were always ready on a kunai. The feeling of constantly being aware of his surroundings began to run thin on him. He felt himself tiring and tiring. Getting only two-three hours of sleep. Hiro had been walking with the patients. He didn't want to walk with the rest of the genin. They had hounded him for days asking him of his battles and his apprenticeship to the great snake sannin. He knew that would drive him crazy.

"Don't worry, little one. The feeling will pass you after you get home." A voice spoke behind hiroaki. Hiro turned around shocked someone had managed to sneak up behind him. Hiro had readied his kunai ready for an enemy attack only to see the yellow haired Hokage. Minato only laughed and ruffled Hiro's hair. "I was wondering when you would notice me for the last twenty minutes." The man gave his light-hearted laugh again. "So what's bothering you?" Minato asked with concern in his voice.

"Nothing important, Hokage-sama." Hiro said with finality oozing of his voice. He didn't need to let anyone in on what was plaguing his thoughts. Minato just stared at Hiro for a few seconds before he responded with a light chuckle, " You're not going to tell me?". "No". Minato laughed again and ruffled the boy's hair again. "Well, as your Hokage, I order you to tell me what's bothering you." Hiro stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity to him. He didn't know what to tell the man walking beside him. He knew he couldn't exactly tell him what was really bothering him but knew minato could probably tell if he lied to him. So hiro decided to partially tell the truth.

"I'm worried about what's going to happen with me and my future. I wanted to join the ANBU but now, i'm wondering if that's the route I want to take." Hiro said with a heavy voice. "Ah. You're Orochimaru's apprentice correct?" Hiro gave a small nod. Minato gave the boy a smile and stopped him from walking. "I know the pressures and expectation of being the apprentice to a Sannin. I know the feeling of wanting to live up to those same expectations and not wanting to let those people down. Except, do not let it get you down. Don't blindly follow the paths that people lay out for you. You are still so young and have your entire future ahead of you. Don't focus on that now because there will always be time for it later. Focus on creating bonds around you, to help you. With me, I don't think I could of handled all of the pressure by myself without my friends and close people. They are the ones that made me strong. Without them, I'm weak. I know the Hyuuga clan puts the constant pressure for their children to grow and be strong but remember, you are still a child." Minato reached into his pouch and pulled out a Hiraishin Kunai.

"Here. Take it. Keep it as a reminder to find what you want to fight for and protect. I do it for my close ones, my dreams and my village. Find what you want to do. Come to the hokage tower when you find the answer. I'll make sure you won't be put into any missions for a month." Minato gave him one final smile and walked away to talk to the injured being carted along. Hiro couldn't help but feel sadness in his heart. He knew that Minato would die soon and there was nothing he thought he could do to save the man. Hiro had the strong urge to try and warn him but they would probably lock him up and tear apart his mind in suspicion of him being a spy for Iwa. He didn't see anyway he could potentially tell him about without causing a lot of ruckus.

Hiro's thoughts shifted to what minato had said. Finding what he wanted to fight for. So far he had really only fought for his own self-preservation but what about the other people here he could help. Could he save the Uchiha Clan from their demise? Could he save itachi from the darkness he will have to endure? Would he be able to help Naruto so he doesn't have to live a lonely life? Could he help Gaara from falling into madness at such a young age? Only the last one seemed plausible to him. He was now his older half-brother whenever he would be born. Hiro held Minato's kunai in hand and continued walking back home.

 **A/N: Hello! The first thing I want to do is apologize to my faithful readers. I have been gone nearly two- three months. I have just been plagued with misfortunes and a heavy schedule. I was forced to get a summer job while i wanted fro classes to start again so that cut my time to write by a huge margin. Then school started and stopped me from writing as much as I wanted too. Then at the beginning of September, I had lost access to my google drive. I lost any of the story I had written, so i was forced to rewrite this entire chapter. Though I feel thankful that this edition of the chapter comes off far better than the original one I lost. Shifting to other things, I will most likely be forced to change my uploading schedule to once a month for both of my stories. Though that means that I will be able to better write and edit both of my stories instead of rushing out shotty work. Feel free to leave any thoughts or criticisms. Until next time. Out.**


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.

Chapter 14

Hiroaki was definitely beyond tired. Orochimaru had been taking out his fury on him in the form of 'training' which was more akin to torture. This past month had been real torture. Orochimaru had driven him every day to near the point of chakra exhaustion. Though that mattered very little to the snake sannin. He always seemed to have some new form of pill to help boost up his chakra and stop any muscle stress. Though the results had been very obvious. He had easily doubled his speed under his tutelage. His taijutsu was near flawless in execution, the jutsu he knew were easily more powerful for the least amount of chakra necessary to use. He had finally increased his reflexes to try and suite his new found speed. He had increased the speed of his hand signs by huge margins. Hiro had learned to do the shadow clone and had mastered the shadow kunai jutsu. Though he hadn't made too many advances in any other jutsu. He had just refined and upgraded his current skill set.

The root training he received had been more akin to stealth and tactics above anything else. ANBU were supposed to be shadows. The darkness that hide from the light. The ones no one see's but meet their end too. Though he was only taking the beginning training for root, he felt he had gotten better. It was hard to believe how fast this past month had passed. He had been breathing, eating, and sleeping under training. He hadn't much time to really think about the question's Minato had asked him to find. He knew that with Gaara sometime in the way, he wouldn't be able to help unless he was in Suna. He would need to be there to try and protect the boy from their father and the demon itself. That would need him to constantly be in Suna and other than defecting to Suna or actually somehow letting Konoha have him leave to the village it wouldn't be to possible. He knew that something would happen sooner rather than later. Danzo and Orochimaru had informed him that several Suna shinobi had been to the village traveling with the word of the Kazekage.

In this month, he hadn't seen any of the hyuuga family. He had essentially only been inside the root base. Only ever going out to spar with itachi. Itachi was another thing. Itachi had already seen the same horrors of war that he had. Itachi had changed to something similar to what he was in the show. More serious. More duty bound. Fiercely loyal to Konoha. He had shared that he was stressed out by his father. His father was pushing him harder than Orochimaru was to him. In their 5 spars they had so far this month itachi had beaten him 4 times of the 5. It was evident that itachi was faster and more agile than Hiro. While Hiro would dominate him in taijutsu, itachi had the better hand in bukijutsu. What it would always came down to was who could land the first blow. While Hiro tried to close off some of Itachi's chakra points, itachi would tank through to try and cut him down.

Their first match happened a few days after Hiro had made it back into the village. Hiro had the speed and jutsu advantage then. He had rolled through any of the taijutsu that itachi had. It had been obvious that Hiro had more experience in combat. While itachi wasn't completely beat down, it was a quick victory for him. The next few had happened the next few weeks. With the sharingan gave the advantage needed to win the spars. While they weren't too intense they were still a competitive affair.

It was the last day of the month and Hiro had been putting off really thinking. It was the first time he had any free time and now he wanted to focus on his future. He had already thought of his family and now he didn't know what else. He thought of his allegiance to the village. Some would say he had already shown that he was a great sample of what a loyal shinobi would be. Though he didn't necesaarilly fel that way. He hadn't revealed any secrets for his own and family sake in konoha. He had foughten his way out to save himself not to bring back the info to konoha, that just happened to coincide with what he was doing. He had joined the academy to get stronger, not to help save the village. He had accepted his position as gennin because Orochimaru had decided to train him. His inspiration to be an ANBU was solely to get stronger. It all seemed to stem from his desires to save himself and his family. Though he hadn't made too many friends he already knew he didn't want itachi to suffer the way he would in the future. Hiro grew a small smile. He knew what he wanted to strive and protect but could he do what he wanted in Konoha? Gaara would need someone there sooner than itachi would. If he simply left konoha he would be a traitor. If he left as a spy, he knew he couldn't possibly betray his own family for some twisted leader back in a place that had only caused more trouble for him than joy.

Hiro cursed himself for not planning things better. He was now apart of root. The most loyal shinobi that a place had to offer. Hiro knew he had messed up but he wondered if he could change that. Who could possibly help him now? Would orochimaru help to care? Maybe he could talk to the Sandaime or even the yondaime to help intervene on his behalf. Hiro sighed. He had put himself in a trap that he couldn't see hi way out of. He wasn't anywhere near strong enough to oppose these powerful figures. He wasn't all that strong to oppose a chunin if the man took the fight seriously. He had already made potentially powerful enemies who really wouldn't like his decisions.

Hiro decided that he wouldn't get anywhere delaying the inevitable and decided to just go to the tower and talk to the Hokage. Hiro decided that if he couldn't come up with what he really wanted to do in the future other than protect his family and get stronger to protect his family. He knew he would end up just winging it for now and try and reflect deeper in the night.

So he didn't waste any time and jumped through the roof tops as fast as he could possibly go. To the people down below he was just a black blur. Other shinobi were getting out his way. Usually only shinobi with important matters run on rooftops. Though hiro, didn't actually have crucial business he wanted to get it over with. He had a weird feeling of nervousness building up. He respected Minato and he didn't want to lie to him if asked on his future plans or what he was currently doing. Though the hokage might know who is in Ne at any given time. Hiro didn't believe that the hokage would allow the organization to exist without having at least some form of counter-measures but giving it more thought, Hiro began to doubt whether the hokage would know who was in the organization. On his way there his thoughts strayed to what power the hokage had in the village. He controlled most of the shinobi forces, some of the laws but what else? The council and the daimyo controlled the trades and laws of the land of fire and the village. It began to seem more and more that the hokage was just more as a powerful general working for the daimyo and didn't have full control of his own village.

Hiro thought of the other kage and wondered if it was much of the same. The raikage and tsuchikage seemed to have more power but Hiro didn't know how any of the other villages worked except for sunagakure. They had a type of council in the show but he wasn't to sure of what they controlled and what the kazekage did either. Though, hiro knew that the kazekage sold his gold to help the village finance their own village. The only kage that seemed to have complete control was Orochimaru. He went and did as he pleased and no one really tried to stop him, they knew they were powerless to try.

Before he knew it, hiro had arrived at the tower and found himself waiting in the lobby. The tower hadn't changed much but it was the vibe of the place that had changed. The sun seemed to be brighter, the mood was a better and uplifting. The last time he had been here it had been filled with a sense of urgency and sadness. It had been an oppressive feeling that he hadn't liked but now the war with Iwagakure had been settled. The land of lightning's daimyo had called for a cease fire and there had been no activity to report of in Kirigakure. Though their kage, Yagura hadn't made any recent appearance, there was speculation that their daimyo had called to halt their forces.

For most of konoha and it's citizens, the war was over. It was time to rebuild and heal the fractures the war had caused. Though most shinobi, were still on guard and training for war to happen any time soon, there was a sense of hope. It was a different sense he received from the root forces. They would always be ready for war with whomever Danzo commanded it. After close to ten minutes of sitting down, the secretary finally let him through to meet with the Yondaime. He walked in and bowed respectively. "Hokage-sama. I have come per your request." The Yondaime looked up from his paper work and gave his cheery smile. "Hiro-san, it's nice to see you. How has your month gone?" The yondaime asked as he finished off signing a few more papers. "It was very..enlightening." Hiro spoke staying a few feet away from the man's desk. Hiro looked around seeing if there were any noticeable changes in the office and he couldn't find any other than the contents of the desk top. "Ah. I hoped that would be the case. Though before you give me your answer, there were somethings that have been brought to my attention since I took office." Minato got up and went to a file that was off to the side. He opened it and briefly showed the contents to Hiro. " You see, over this past month, I have been in talks with the office of the kazekage and the council. It seems that you are the son of the kazekage and you are a shinobi for our village. In most cases, if there are shinobi children from different villages and have family in another then they wouldn't ask for the child back in any case unless you were forcefully enrolled into the ranks. Though that isn't the case here. You willingly joined our forces and have lived under your life as a Hyuuga. It would have been resolved at that. You would have stayed here, but that's not this case either." Minato gave a sigh. "You know the hyuuga clan have taken you off legally as being a part of the hyuuga. Meaning you do not have the protection of a major clan. Though some of the council has urged me to not let you into the hands of Sunagakure, it could cause another war. I am not sure on what to do here. You are a shinobi and citizen of our land."

Hiro began to ignore what Minato had been saying. He had heard enough to what would more likely happen. He would be let go of the shinobi forces and put into the hands of sunagakure. Which he had no doubt desperately wanted him because of his blood he had. The Byakugan. That's why they were fighting so hard to get me back. Hiro didn't know how to feel. It gave him access to this whole other world, but he was having doubts if he could really help gaara. He would be closing of Konoha from himself. Could he really not be a shinobi for konoha. Instinctively Hiro had reached for his hiate-tai on his arm, tracing over the carved leaf. Hiro didn't like that so many decisions were being made for him. That didn't rest well for him. He wanted to have all options open for him but it seemed that everyone was closing more and more doors for him after every small decision was made for him. Even at birth he had several doors closed for him by being born to a noble clan. He had much of his life preplanned, though plans are not necessarily being followed through. He didn't like that Danzo and Orochimaru had so much control on what he learned, what he was required to do. It bugged him that he had no freedom. That's what Hiro was slowly realizing. Only Power would set him free. That's probably why Orochimaru would leave Konoha. He knew that already, so if he couldn't become Hokage, the ultimate power authority in Konoha, he would simply leave and start his own village. If power was what would set him free, he needed to get as much power as fast as possible. Could he do that in Konoha? Could he do that in Suna? Would the Kazekage even want him to be trained or even a shinobi? Hiro needed to buy time for himself and need to try and get some control on where the direction his life was headed.

Hiro was beginning to feel like a slave, just doing what others continued to do. He noticed that Minato was still talking and felt rather dumb that he had missed the yondaime's speech these last few minutes. "- they'll be here by tomorrow. So what do you say?" Hiro's eyes widened slightly. He wasn't expecting the hokage to ask anything from him. He was just waiting for him to give im an order. Hiro's hand went to the back of his head and he got really nervous and his face turn tomato red. "Err, say to what Hokage-sama?" "If you wanted to become an ambassador of sorts. You would be tasked with going back and forth to Suna and here." Hiro began to think about it in more detail. This seemed just perfect for him now. He would have connections with both villages! Then Hiro remembered that he was still the apprentice of Orochimaru. Apprenticeships worked differently from teams. The apprentice was supposed to be soaking up as much knowledge as possible. With teams there were occasions where the team would break up after the members would go up in rank. That was not the case with the apprentices and masters. They would be a partnership until after the master deemed the apprentice ready. Apprenticeships were usually done for specialized work like the T&I to get the person ready for that particular field of work. Most apprenticeships were offered to Chunin that had decided what field to work in. Though Orochimaru had picked him up for no special role. Simply to pass down all of his knowledge.

"What about Orochimaru-sensei. I still have obligations to keep with him." Minato smiled and gave a light chuckle. "He will be your escort. Having a 'Sannin accompany the ambassador' should show how serious we are about our relations with the village. The only problem with this is seeing if the kazekage would want to agree to this." Minato gave a sigh. Hiro knew there was little chance that something perfect like this would really happen. Kami hadn't blessed him in this lifetime, so he had a hard time believing it would finally happen. Hiro began to exit when he remembered why he had gone there in the first place. "My friends, my family. That's what I want to fight for." Minato gave a small smile and nodded.

Hiro left and felt something he hadn't felt for a while. He felt a twinge of hope. He gave a genuine smile. Things were beginning to take shape, beginning to finally go his way for once.

 **A/N: Hello! I know I had said I would be updating on a monthly basis but I found myself having a little spare time today and wrote this out. LoL to anyone in the future who wants to flame my work, please give valid criticism instead of just flaming it, I want to know why you think it sucks. As always favorite, follow, review it helps keep the motivation up.**


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